Elara heard the howls before she saw the lights. Deep in the forest, she pressed baby Mira closer to her chest and crept toward the edge of the trees. Her house sat dark and empty in the clearing. But the road beyond it blazed with headlights. Dozens of them. "What's happening, baby girl?" she whispered to Mira, who had finally stopped crying.
The answer came in the form of car doors banging. Voices screaming. The sound of boots on dirt. Elara's heart hammered as she recognized the voice cutting through the night air. "I know she's here somewhere!" Kael's voice boomed across the area. "Search every inch of this place!" More vehicles roared up the road from the opposite way. Elara counted at least twenty sets of headlights now. Two groups, facing each other across her small yard. "You're too late, Kael." Riven's voice was ice-cold. "She's under my protection now." Elara crept closer, hiding behind a huge oak tree.
