Chapter 48

• "Something is amiss," Rhea breathed quietly, her muscles coiled with a raw, animal fear. The moon blazed as a shining pearl in the black sky, an unearthly light that illuminated the whisperpine forest. The air, fresh and clean as it usually was, was thick with the reek that seeped upon her skin: the reek of hate, of fear, of rogues.
• Ash stood by her side, arms encircling her, his body a rigid barricade, supporting. "You feel it too," he breathed the words softly and ominously. "They are close. Too close."
• Zane, Kai, and Blaze, standing watch at the edge of the clearing, ran to them. "They're coming," snarled Blaze, his face feral, his body radiating a kill fury. "I can smell them. Dozens of them. Maybe more."