Chapter 28 - The Alpha’s Truth

Evening spread like a blanket over the valley, the outlaw camp a crazy quilt of dancing torchlight and greedy shadow. The air was brisk with the smell of pine and wet earth, and the residual tang of blood from the Blackfang ambush two days prior. I was at the edge of the clearing, my boots sinking into the damp earth, dilating beside the embers of a fire that was burning away. My body ached from the burns I'd endured from Isolde's enchanted netting, and my heart ached from Mara's betrayal, even though I'd come to resentfully accept her efforts to make it right. The crescent on my wrist pulsed gently, a permanent reminder of the curse binding me to Kael Draven—and the war that would tear us all apart.