*Starblood Borderlands ---- Dawn*

The smell of smoke reached Crystal before the first scream.

Ryder's patrol was supposed to be routine----a sunrise sweep along the northern ridge, just inside Starblood's border. But as the wind shifted, the acrid tang of burning wood and fur carried blood with it.

Ryder's wolf, Aiden, went rigid inside him. Too close, Aiden snarled. They dared.

Crystal didn't wait for orders. Aelira surged forward within her, claws raking at the ...