POV: Xavier

Pain radiated through my entire body as I struggled to stand. Ravencrest's single strike had felt like being hit by a freight train. My ribs were cracked, maybe broken. Blood filled my mouth.

But I forced myself up anyway, because Thelma was facing an eight hundred year old vampire lord alone.

She circled Ravencrest in her massive Alpha wolf form, golden fur blazing with power. They moved around each other like predators, each looking for an opening.

"You have your ancestor's fire," Ravencrest said, with genuine admiration in his voice. "The hybrid would be proud. Shadowfang burned with that same intensity before I killed him."

"You killed our...