I follow without hesitation.
“Daciana! Stop!” Kieran’s commanding voice comes from behind me.
But I can’t stop. The wolves are moving faster now, breaking into a lope. I shift mid-stride, my clothes disappearing as my body changes. Four legs hit the ground, and I’m running, following the wild wolves deeper into territory I know like the back of my hand. I don’t care that it’s nighttime and that thewoods are dangerous. I don’t care about the shadow beasts that lurk in here. My mate can handle them.
I feel Kieran shift behind me, his massive, silver wolf so much larger than mine. When he catches up to me, I glance back and see that the soldiers are following at a distance.
We run for what feels like hours but is probably only minutes. Past boundary markers, past hunting grounds, into a part of the forest where the trees grow thick and the shadows never quite lift.
The wolves stop at a clearing.
I shift back to human form, and Kieran does the same, immediately moving to block me from whatever lies ahead. But I shove past him.
“No. I need to see.”
At first, I don’t understand what I’m looking at. The ground has been disturbed, dirt piled in rough, uneven mounds. Fresh dirt, dark and rich.
Then, the smell hits me. The unmistakable stench of death.
And underneath that, something else. Something that makes my wolf whine inside my head. A strange, oily, unnatural stench that clings to everything.
One of Lucian’s guards is already moving forward. He drops to his knees and starts digging with his bare hands. The earth comes away easily. Too easily.
And then, I see it.
A hand. Pale, lifeless. My mother’s hand, her silver wedding ring gleaming in the moonlight.
“No.” I stumble forward, falling to my knees. “No, no, no!”
The guard keeps digging. More is revealed with each handful of dirt.
My mother’s face. Eyes open and staring. My father beside her, his throat torn open, dried blood crusted black.
And then—oh, gods—
Darius.
Mikhail.
Kieran’s hands suddenly cover my eyes and yank me back against his chest. “Don’t look,” he says.
But it’s too late. I’ve seen them. Seen what was done to them.
A sound rips from my throat—not quite human, not quite wolf. Broken and raw. My whole body shakes with sobs I can’t control.
“They used dark magic.” Leon’s voice cuts through the roaring in my ears. “Necromancy. This was ritual. They were trying to do something with the bodies.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t think.
Most of my family is dead. Murdered with dark magic and dumped in a shallow grave.
“Who?” The word comes out as a snarl through my tears. “Who did this?”
“We will find out.” Kieran’s arms are iron bands around me, the only things keeping me from flying apart. “I swear to you, Daciana, we will find who did this. And they will pay.”
This isn’t how it was supposed to go. They weren’t perfect parents or siblings. They didn’t love me like they should have. But they were still my family.
And someone took them from me before I could figure out what that meant.
