Kara fired from above, not at the Alpha but at an ordinary Mauler dragging itself toward the gate approach with one broken leg and one working claw. Her arrow struck behind its neck, frost spreading down into the wound Asher had opened earlier. It collapsed before it could reach the archway, blocking nothing important. She shifted immediately after, scanning the road beyond the southern gate as instructed.
The Alpha inhaled.
Liam saw the signs a heartbeat before the sound came. Its claws dug into the stone. Its chest expanded beneath the plated hide. The layered armor around its throat shifted outward, not opening, exactly, but loosening like vents. Its jaw lowered wider than it had during the bite. The lesser wounded Maulers near the den flattened themselves closer to the ground.
"Move," Liam snapped.
