ra

arry Rampart. The suspended wooden walkway groaned under our boots, its rusted ir

r Knox. Kaelen's presence was suffocating, a dark, predatory storm wrapped in a heavy winter coat.

when I

promised. The wood was dark with rot, and the permafrost shift had complete

ut!" I s

ered with the sickening crack of

massive arms wrapped around me like a vice, shielding my body with his own as we plummeted into the dar

pitch-black crevice formed by

eel every rigid line of his body. Dust and ice rained down on us. My survival inst

his neck to find a handhold on the rock behind him. My hair

ping us. A low, vibrating growl rumbled deep in his chest, vibrating against my own ribs. His heart was hammering vi

ice steady. "We're in a triangular stable space. If you

sharply, his body trembling slight

Sunlight pierced the gloom. Mason and Alistair were tearing at the debris with fr

immediately marched to the edge of the crater, my

oice cutting through the stunned silence of the gathering Warriors. "The permafrost shift the

stared at me,

, his ice-blue eyes were locked onto me with a sharp, piercing intensity. He wasn't looking at a pat

forward, my hand instinctively shooting out and planting firmly on Kaelen's dar

hear everything over the howling wind, but the B

a smirk playing on his lips. "Tossing a brilliant little *wolfless* righ

m* hung in the

o intense that the surrounding Warriors instinctively took a step back. I stood frozen, my hand s