(...continued)

Fenric circled her slowly.

Not like a predator rushing its prey but like something that already knew the ending and wanted to savor the middle.

More of those red miasma started streaming from his body in lazy ribbons, dripping downward like molten embers. Where it touched the sea, the water darkened instantly, spreading in slow, inky blooms. Steam hissed. The ocean recoiled as if burned.But then it too slowly embraced the darkness and turned pitch black instead of the usual icy blue.

Autumn hovered just above the surface.

Barely. Her body was exhausted. It hadn’t really had a proper chance to heal. She too knew that she was forcing her own limits. She had to. She had to buy that time for her men to cross over. She needed to buy that distraction.Every second was precious... that much she knew.

Her boots never quite touched the water, but they came close enough that spray soaked the leather. The extent of her efforts were starting to show by now...subtle, but undeniable. Her shoulders were tense. Her breathing measured too carefully. The storm tugged at her like a child nudging its mother, waves rising and falling beneath her concentration.

Fenric watched all of it.

"Oh, don’t look so grim," he said lightly, his voice carrying far too easily over the wind. "You always did take responsibility too seriously...you and your Alpha...look where it landed you..."

He drifted closer, circling wide, then tighter.

"Tell me," he continued, tilting his head, eyes glinting through the haze, "did you recognize him? When he lunged at your mate back there?"

Autumn’s jaw tightened but she didn’t speak.

Fenric smiled.

"Of course you did." His tone softened, almost indulgent. "Alpha Thorgar. Your father. Reduced to instinct and teeth." He clicked his tongue. "Such a shame. He was formidable once.The terror of the Old World. The blight of the New."

The sea rolled beneath Autumn, a larger swell rocking her balance. Her hover dipped...just a fraction...before she corrected it.

Fenric noticed.

"And Velor?! I warned him," Fenric went on, drifting closer still. "Power has a price. He was... eager to pay it."

Autumn swallowed.

Her vision wavered.

For a heartbeat, the world slipped.

Blood on stone.

A massive hand trembling as claws tore through skin.

Then she heard her father’s voice...steady, proud...before it broke into a roar that wasn’t his anymore.

Autumn inhaled sharply.

Fenric’s smile widened.

"And Kieran," he added, almost kindly. "Ah... your mate fought beautifully. Brave. Loyal too,I must say. But ordinary at the end."

That did it.

Her hover stuttered.

Just enough.

"He is alive," Autumn said quietly, her voice steady even as her pulse thundered in her ears." They are alive. And that’s all that matters. Where there is life, there is hope!Where there is hope, there is a will to fight!"

"For now," Fenric replied smoothly. "But you felt it, didn’t you? His healing dulled. His strength stripped away. Just a wolf." He leaned in, miasma curling closer to her face. "How fragile he looked. Bleeding. Broken. Which reminds me...are you certain that he still lives??!!"

Her heart slammed hard against her ribs.

Too loud.

Too fast.

The storm roared...but inside her head, all she could hear was that wet, awful sound of blood hitting the ground.

Kieran’s body soaked in blood.

The way his breathing hitched.

The way his eyes didn’t quite focus anymore.

Autumn blinked.

The horizon blurred.

Fenric stopped circling.

He studied her now.

"Oh," he murmured, delighted. "There it is."

A warm trickle slid from Autumn’s nose.

She didn’t even feel it.

The droplet fell...slow, heavy...through the rain.

It struck the sea.

Sizzled too loud. Like oil over a very hot frying pan.

Another sharp hiss cut through the storm as the water blackened further, curling away from the impact point.

Fenric inhaled deeply.

His eyes half-lidded, almost reverent.

"Blood touched by something unfinished," he said softly. "Incomplete power always smells... exquisite.But what is not whole can never claim sovereignty.It is destined to fizzle out and wither at the end.No matter how powerful."

Autumn clenched her fists.

Her levitation wavered again. The sea surged up, icy spray kissing her ankles this time. She forced herself higher...every muscle screaming in protest.

"Say what you want," she said, breath measured, controlled. "You won’t bait me into losing focus."

Fenric chuckled.

"I don’t need to," he replied. "You are doing that all on your own."

And he let out a thunderous laughter that shook everything around them-water, land, the coast...

Autumn stared back hard at him, but her focus was someplace else.

Far below them

Where the sea swallowed any other sound.

Where Dax cut through the water with powerful strokes, lungs burning as currents dragged at him from unseen directions.

And so did the other Blackmoon and Skartheim soldiers.

The storm above made the depths chaotic...waves colliding, pressure shifting unpredictably. The men were being pulled in all directions, left and right, despite their wolf strengths.

A jagged rock tore past Dax’s shoulder. Another wolf narrowly avoided it, claws scraping stone as they twisted away.

Shapes loomed in the dark.

Not creatures.

Land.

Calareth rose beneath them like the spine of a buried beast.

As Dax kicked forward, something caught his eye.

Light.

Faint at first,then as his eyes adjusted to the light conditions around him, it became even more unmistakable.

Veins of dull, pulsing glow ran through the rock walls beneath the water, threading through stone like molten veins beneath skin. They shimmered softly, responding to movement...to presence. All their presence, even the one above them. Autumn’s presence.Fenric’s presence. The clash unfolding above them.

One of the Blackmoon wolves froze mid-stroke, eyes wide.

"Do you see that?" he mouthed, bubbles tearing free, rising up as his eyes opened even wider.

Dax nodded grimly.

The mine.The entire landmass was like a living, breathing mass...

Hidden not just by earth but by depth... and something else... whatever power slept there... was very much awake.