A shriek — guttural, wild and metallic on bone — ricocheted through the trees. The Ruins erupted out, savage purpose trailing behind them on their grotesque, mangled bodies as they leapt toward the party, talons swirling. Serena's heart was pounding so loudly in her ears, but she stood rooted to the ground while Kaelen and the rest unleashed everything they had against them. The effects were immediate and brutal; the Sulphur sweetness of blood and soil pervaded the air.
Something weighed war in her like the battle-evolved shudders of her Onyx wolf. The electricity in her skin, begging for release. She could sense its rage, its desire to obliterate. But she had never let it all go wild, not wild enough, anyway, to lose control of what she was doing, and the shadier territory of her own person. Not now "This was not the time for that"
