The smoke had barely cleared when the scouts arrived.

Celeste was leaning against a charred tree, sipping water from a scorched canteen while healers moved through the wounded. Her skin still buzzed with residual adrenaline, the ache of half-shifted limbs echoing through her bones. She hadn’t sat down since they extinguished the last of the corrupted nest.

Hunter stood a few feet away, speaking quietly with Logan and Lis about perimeter expansions and firebreaks. His knuckles were stained ...