Chapter 58
Her worst fear had come to life. They were here. In her home. In Caltheris. Along the edges of the manor grounds, their terrifyingly familiar forms stood solid. Twenty, perhaps more, staring through the foyer windows with suffocating stillness. They did not move. Did not advance.
They waited.
Evelyne’s fingers tightened in the fabric of her nightgown, her silk robe drawn close around her trembling body.
She had fled her bedchamber the moment Kaldrek woke her, the urgency in his voice pulling her from sleep without question.
Her first instinct had been to shift, to run, to check on the packs.
But she had not made it that far.
She had stopped in the windowed foyer before the stone patio, the same one Cillian had shattered months ago. Her breath came shallow as she scanned the figures again.
They could have entered already. She knew that. They could slip through the smallest cracks, dissolve into mist, seep into the manor without resistance. But they had not. Not tonight. Tonight, they showed themselves in full form.
Her stomach twisted.
They were here for a reason.
Evelyne took a careful step back, knowing full well they could see her. Their presence pressed against her skin, against her senses, as though they were already inside. Her gaze snapped toward movement behind her.
Sonya.
The young red-haired handmaid was finishing the last of the evening’s cleaning, her back turned, unaware.
“Sonya,” Evelyne whispered.
The girl froze instantly.
“Do not move. Just listen to me.”
Sonya turned slowly, her eyes widening the moment she saw Evelyne’s expression—the stillness in her posture, the tension in her voice.
“My lady?” she breathed, her own voice already trembling.
“I need you to find Lady Aurelia. And my mother,” Evelyne said quietly, each word precise. “Tell every servant and every guard to get inside. Find a safe room. Now.”
Sonya’s grip tightened on the mop, the wood rattling faintly against the floor as fear took hold.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Evelyne didn’t look back at the glass. She didn’t need to.
“Go,” she said, sharper now. “Now, Sonya.”
Sonya did not hesitate. She hurried down the corridor, her footsteps light as she vanished into the deeper halls. Evelyne watched her go, relief flickering in her chest, until movement at the edge of her vision snapped her attention back to the foyer.
A guard stepped from a side room, adjusting his coat as he moved toward the entrance, utterly unaware of what waited beyond the glass.
Evelyne’s breath caught.
No. No, no.
“Stop,” she tried to call, but the word barely left her lips before his hand reached the door.
One of them moved.
The stillness shattered. The Noskari surged forward with terrifying speed, crashing through the glass in a violent burst of sound and cold air. Shards flew across the foyer as they tore inside like creatures that had never belonged to the living world.
The guard never stood a chance.
One struck him before he could turn, a blur of gray and black that sent him crumpling to the floor. The sound he made died in his throat as another fell upon him instantly.
Feeding.
The sound was wrong. Wet and hungry.
A scream tore through the hall behind Evelyne, then another, as the servants found what remained of the guard.
There was no hiding it now. No time left to think.
Her heart slammed against her ribs as instinct seized her, her body shifting before thought could catch up.
Bones snapped, muscles stretched, and the world dropped lower, sharper, more savage.
Within seconds she stood on four legs, every sense flaring into brutal clarity.
Gray faces turned as one, their eyes locking on her before they moved.
There were too many.
She knew it instantly. There was no chance of holding them off, not alone. But she could buy time. She would buy them time.
We’re coming, Kaldrek pushed through the bond again and again. The packs are on their way.
It should have comforted her. It barely did, because deep down, Evelyne knew she was not going to survive this.
Not with all of them closing in. Still, she stepped forward, lowering into a defensive crouch as the nearest Noskari lunged.
She met it head-on, striking fast, her claws tearing through one, then another, but they were relentless.
The sound of bare feet racing over polished floors behind her made her turn.
Aurelia was running straight toward her.
Evelyne spun, ready to intercept her, to force her back, but Aurelia did not stop.
She leapt and the glass behind Evelyne shattered as Aurelia burst through it, already shifting in midair, her body twisting and expanding with violent grace, fur rippling over newly formed muscle before she landed beside Evelyne.
Her paws struck the stone hard enough to echo through the foyer.
For one impossible heartbeat, Evelyne froze.
Then she saw her sister fully: thick light-gray and brown fur, a powerful form nearly as large as her own, and strength radiating from her like heat from a flame.
Her red eyes blazed with something Evelyne had never seen in her before, something unyielding and utterly wild.
Aurelia was magnificently brutal as she surged into the mass of Noskari, tearing through them with a ferocity that stole Evelyne’s breath. She was a weapon hidden in plain sight, draped in silk and jewels, waiting all this time to be unleashed.
Evelyne moved again, faster now, stronger, driving forward beside her sister and striking harder with every breath.
They fought without grace, only desperation and violence, but they fought as one.
Evelyne tore through another Noskari as it attacked, her claws ripping across its chest, the force of the collision jolting up her limbs.
It collapsed beneath her, its body already breaking apart into something less solid, less real.
Another followed.
Then another.
Evelyne barely had time to register it.
But something was off. The Noskari were falling too easily.
She knew what it should take to bring down even one Noskari, and yet she and Aurelia were cutting through them faster than they should have been able to.
It made no sense, but there was no time to question it.
Aurelia fought beside her now, and together they fell into a rhythm that needed no words, their bodies adjusting to one another as if they had always known how.
Movement flickered at the edge of Evelyne’s vision.
She knew it was Heidara the moment the wolf emerged from the chaos. She must have been near the manor, close enough for Kaldrek to send her ahead.
Good. They needed her.
Still, it was only three wolves against twenty. Three furious, stubborn females, perhaps, but three all the same.
Evelyne lunged as one of the Noskari turned toward Aurelia, her teeth sinking into its shoulder. She wrenched it back, tore through flesh that barely felt like flesh, and flung it aside. The motion cost her a heartbeat of attention. No more than that, but it was enough.
Something crashed into Evelyne from behind.
The impact drove her forward, claws scraping over stone as a creature clamped onto her back. Fangs pierced deep, and pain ripped through her in a blinding surge. Evelyne snarled from the pit of her chest and twisted hard, trying to throw it off. But it held.
Another hit her. Hard.
Its teeth clamped into her side, dragging her down further as her legs buckled beneath her weight. She thrashed, growling, trying to dislodge them, her body twisting, bucking, claws scraping wildly against the ground.
Get them off. Get them off—
But they clung to her, feeding, tearing, dragging her down.
She couldn’t—
Her head snapped toward the manor just as more Noskari streamed through the shattered glass and disappeared inside.
No. No. No.
Panic seized her, sharper than pain. Her mother. The housemaids. The guards. Seraphine.
A raw, deafening roar tore from Evelyne’s throat as adrenaline surged through her limbs. She dug her claws into the ground and forced herself upright beneath the weight clinging to her back. She could not stay pinned here. She could not let them get any farther inside.
With everything she had left, she threw her body backward, slamming hard against the ground. The impact crushed one of the creatures beneath her, forcing its grip to break, while the other loosened just enough—
Evelyne broke free, ripping herself out of their hold, blood slick against her fur as she staggered forward. Toward the house. Toward the doors. She didn’t care if she survived. She just needed to get inside. Because if she didn’t, everyone in there was dead.