Faye's POV
The words Elder Abel had spoken before departing still echoed in my mind like a warning bell. "The beast inside him has been awakened." My brow furrowed as I tried to make sense of his cryptic statement.
"Elder Abel, what exactly do you mean by that?" I had asked.
"You've surely observed that Lord Hardy is no ordinary werewolf. When the stone sought to claim you, he intervened successfully. However, the price he paid for that intervention remains unknown to me," Abel had explained before rushing off to address the crisis brewing beyond our gates.
Matron Kyra had arrived.
The cabin felt suffocating now, packed with bodies and thick with tension. I attempted to push thoughts of Hardy from my mind, to concentrate on the immediate threat before us. But my efforts proved futile. This wasn't the time to worry about him, not with Matron Kyra's sudden appearance at our northern stronghold.
