Serena’s PoV

The council hall was still buzzing but this time they were all nervous as Ardan stood in front of them, about to pass a message. His face looked like something terrible was wrong and there was urgency in his tone.

“A plague is upon us,” he began, and the room instantly fell silent. “This isn’t like anything we’ve faced before. It affects only the pure—wolves who aren’t rogues. It attacks their minds, their bodies, and their very souls. It turns them into something else.”

The crowd began to murmur, panicking.

Ardan lifted a hand, silencing them. “Listen carefully. The symptoms include fever, wounds that won’t heal, erratic behaviour,...