The strike force that rode for the shrine two weeks later dwarfed the one that had first raided it — nearly two hundred fighters drawn from every bloodline the alliance had gathered, Xavier and Caleb at the front, Corin guiding them once more through terrain he knew far too intimately for comfort. Banners from a dozen packs and covens rode together for the first time in living memory, a sight that would have seemed impossible only months before.

Jasmine rode with them this time, a decision that had cost her a long, difficult argument with nearly everyone she trusted.

"You held the shrine shut from miles away once," Liora had...