The most fierce woman Gerald had ever known broke down in his arms, and each sob that tore from her throat felt like a knife twisting in his chest. He cradled her carefully, one hand cupping the back of her head while the other wrapped around her trembling shoulders. But fury surged through his body with such intensity that he started shaking, his muscles going taut as steel while he forced himself to stay gentle with her even as violence threatened to consume him whole.
His eyes swept the clearing, taking in everything that had happened here.
The ritual circle drawn in blood. The standing stones covered in symbols that made his skin crawl. The boy still tied to the altar, sobbing through his gag. Bodies scattered across the ground—some dissolving into black sludge, others bleeding red i
