Kaelen's POV.
The creature stepped fully into the torchlight of the ravine. Its eyes….his eyes were fixed on me with a hunger that belonged to neither man nor beast. Behind it, Hecate's smile never wavered. Fenrir lay slumped against the far wall, wrists chained to the stone, blood streaking the side of his face. His chest heaved, but his gaze found mine across the distance and held it.
"Kaelen," the creature rasped. "Finish what Valerius started… or watch him die."
I felt the Dominion surge inside me, wild and hungry, pushing against the fragile walls of Linus's body. One wrong move and it would spill out.
Fenrir's voice cracked through our bond, faint but steady. Don't… it's what she wants.
I took one step forward, short-swords already in my hands, but the creature lunged, not at me, at him. Its claws raked the air inches from Fenrir's throat. Hecate laughed.
I couldn't reach him in time.
