The clearing was not empty.
Shadows bled together into a single shape, wavering like smoke. The night grew colder, sharp with the metallic sting of blood. McKenna froze, her wolf crouching low inside her, ready to strike.
Then the figure spoke, its voice strained and hollow, as though torn between two worlds.
"I do not come to harm you. I come to warn you… before it is too late."
The air thickened. Images burst into her mind, not her own but forced there—flames roaring, devouring homes; wolves screaming as steel cut them down; the stench of charred fur and burning flesh. McKenna staggered, clutching her temples, her wolf howling in shared agony.
The vision shifted. A woman with pale skin, eyes identical to McKenna’s, cradled a newborn to her chest. Tears glistened on her cheeks as she
