Page 148 of A Sunwoven Ascent

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.