Nate's POV
Every time my claws sank into one of those shadow-men, my paws felt like they were being dipped in acid. They didn't have hearts to puncture or throats to rip. They were just constructs; vessels for a malice that felt older than the pack itself.
"Alpha! The East wing is collapsing!"
I heard Silas scream through the link, but his voice was muffled, like he was shouting from underwater. The shadows were thick in the air now, it was a physical weight that made it hard to breathe, hard to see.
I swung my massive head, snapping the neck of a shadow-creature that had pinned a young guard to the wall. The thing evaporated into a foul-smelling mist, but three more rose from the floorboards to take its place.
Dahlia.
Her name was a roar in my mind. I had seen them on the terrace. I had seen her jump. That was the bravest, most terrifying thing I'd ever witnessed. But then the ground had simply... opened. The mountain had taken them.
