They returned to camp to find it in ruins—tents torn, guards down, the Bloodstone missing.
Aria froze. "No…"
"They took it," Kane growled. "But not before leaving a message."
He handed the alpha a scroll, bound in black silk.
The alpha read it aloud:
> "The heir awakens. The stone is ours. Let her come to reclaim it—alone.
Or we'll come for her… and burn the Shadowlands to the ground."
Aria's blood ran cold.
"Who sent it?" she asked.
The alpha's face went pale. "A name I never hoped to hear again."
He looked at her with something close to fear.
"Silas. My brother."