I was already moving before my mind had fully caught up, every muscle coiling, senses flaring.
The shadows in the hall shifted, not like ordinary darkness, but alive, breathing. Something unnatural had breached our defenses.
My men were shouting behind me, but the words dissolved into static the moment I stepped into the hall.
The air itself seemed to thrum against my skin, vibrating through bone and sinew, and I realized someone, or something, was trying to get inside my head.
"Get back!" I roared, trying to keep focus, trying to make sense of the intrusion.
But it was everywhere. Each pulse of fury I sent through the room was met by a mirrored echo I didn't recognize.
My link with Elena, normally muted after our time apart, surged violently. Her fear, sharp and raw, pierced my mind like glass.
I wanted to call her name, to ground myself in the sensation of her, but even that was twisted, tangled with something else, something dark that brushed alongside her presence.
