"You look like shit,"

The stench of death clung to the air, mixing with the faint, lingering traces of magic. The bodies of fallen warriors—both ours and theirs—were scattered across the ruined land, their shredded limbs and claw-marked torsos a testament to the brutality of the fight.

The war was over. Kaius was dead. His kingdom had crumbled, his men either slaughtered, captured, or running for their worthless lives. And yet, my body still thrummed with unspent rage. The beast within me, the war animal I had let loose for months, wasn't ready to settle. Not yet.

I rolled my stiff shoulders, feeling the remnants of my half-shift recede, my claws dulling back to fingers, my fangs retreating behind clenched teeth. My skin burned with the aftershock of transformation, muscles aching from the repeated shifts between human and wolf in battle.