The forest floor continued to split.
Dark energy bled through the cracks in the soil like smoke escaping from a buried fire. Selara didn't move, but every nerve in her body was alert. Her silver veins pulsed brighter now, reacting to the surge of power spilling into the clearing.
Kaelen stood calmly in the middle of it all.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Behind Selara, Draven shifted his stance slightly. She didn't have to turn to know what he was doing he was measuring distance, calculating angles, preparing for a fight he had already been warned not to interfere in.
Selara felt it too.
The rules of the trial had changed.
This wasn't about wolves anymore.
The first dark shape pulled itself from the earth.
Then another.
Then another.
