Cass’s POV

"Attack!" Chen roared, pointing his sword at us.

The mercenaries hesitated, but greed and fear drove them forward. The battle became a chaotic blur of steel and snarling. I danced through the fray, my movements fluid and lethal, taking down enemies with a rhythm that felt almost instinctual.

Throw me!

Maribel’s mental command cut through the din.

I didn't hesitate. I shoved her forward, and she soared over the melee, shifting in mid-air. She landed on an enemy like a phantom, her fangs ripping out his throat before she even hit the ground.

I zoned in on Ezra. He was distracted by Chen, his back exposed. My wolf clawed at my mind, screaming for the kill. Just as I reached him, a blade whistled through the air—Sienna.

"Over my dead body!" the witch shrieked, swinging her sword with frantic, amateur desperation. She unleashed a cloud of smoke from her satchel, and the curse hit me like a physical blow. I was ripped back into my human form, breathless and vulnerable.

"You can't shift!" she taunted, raising her blade. "And Ezra doesn't want you dead! He's obsessed with you!"

"Obsession isn't love, you fool," I hissed, dodging her clumsy strike. "He's a monster."

"I love him!" she screamed.

I looked behind her. Ezra had vanished into the chaos, leaving his lover to die for his cause. "Look around, Sienna. He didn't even look back."

Her faith faltered, but her blade still lunged. I sidestepped, grabbed her by the nape, and forced her to her knees. She begged, claiming she was pregnant—with

his

child.

"My sister was pregnant, too," I whispered into her ear, the coldness in my heart absolute. "When he took her head, did he spare her?"

The steel flashed. Sienna’s head separated from her shoulders with a wet thud. I snatched her hair, holding her severed head up like a gruesome trophy as I charged toward the gates. Ezra was just climbing into a car, his eyes locking onto mine through the glass.

"I will have your head, Ezra!" I hurled the witch's severed head at his window. It smacked against the glass before rolling onto the pavement.

The car sped away, disappearing into the dust. I killed the remaining guards in my path, snapping necks and tearing through flesh until I was standing alone, panting, drenched in blood.

I’ve become a killer,

I realized, my wolf finally settling in my skin.

A monster to fight a monster.

Kanda shifted back, her feline grace replaced by the exhaustion of war. "It’s over, Cass. Chen is dead. The pack is ours."

I surveyed the survivors—men and women who had been broken by Zao, now looking to me for direction. I was trembling; the pendant Honora had given me was shattered, its power spent, but they didn't know that. They only saw the girl who had executed the witch and brought the arena to its knees.

"I am Casseopeia!" I announced, my voice echoing off the burning ruins of the pit. "Daughter of Warrick, Alpha of the Dark Fang Pack! Those of you who wish to stay and fight under my banner, you will have a home. Those who want to leave—go. But this place, this misery? It ends tonight!"

A cheer erupted. It was a raw, primal sound of liberation.

Sheril and Maribel soon departed to hunt down their own ghosts, leaving Kanda and me standing amid the smoke of the burning arena.

"I have nowhere else to call home," Kanda said softly, stepping to my side.

I nodded, feeling the first warmth of dawn on my skin. "My home is yours."

I looked toward the horizon, where the sun was beginning to bleed into the sky.

Colt. I’m still alive. And I’m coming for you.