Protector the Skoll was no longer Lith’s friend or Faluel’s apprentice. He tapped into his true nature and became who he was meant to be.

“What are you talking about?” Kazam held his flaming hands out to keep the angry beast at bay. “Those are not your children.”

That night, Emperor Beasts and Fae had one thing in common. Their survival instinct screamed at them not to cross the distance separating them from the Skoll. That they had to deal with him from a distance.

“Dad?” Jadon asked. “Is that really you? Did you come back to save us?”

Count Lark had often hoped to see his father again, but in his daydreams, he imagined that Trequill Lark would come back as one of Lith’s Demons. That his father would return from the grave to say to his children the goodbye that Orpal had denied them.

Not that the late Count Lark would return in the form of a massive wolf. Yet Protector had just called Jadon and Keyla his children, and Count Lark couldn’t find any other reason a beast would fight like that for them.

“Yes, it’s me.” Protector replied, hearing Leran’s voice instead of Jadon’s. “You stay put and cover your eyes. I don’t want you to see this.”