Book 9. Chapter 39: The Law of Marrow
As the thunderclouds receded and the frozen dust settled, the canine sisters were standing at the center of the devastated Tartarean hunter camp, looking incredibly bored.
Isolyn looked up, her glacial eyes locking directly onto Jake and Bree's position on the ridge.
“Well,” Isolyn's voice echoed up the valley, cold and perfectly clear. “The entertainment has finally arrived. And look, Ainora... our little sister brought her pet.”
Bree bared her teeth, a primal, rumbling growl tearing from her throat as her fiery vines flared to life. Jake rested a calm hand on her armored shoulder, projecting his unshakeable Hearth aura to soothe her fury. He stepped off the cliff, letting his hearthflames carry him in a slow, controlled descent to the valley floor. With a sudden pulse of Celtic Runes, Bree’s body became lighter, and she leaped down after him, shaking the frozen earth lightly as she landed with surprising grace.
His other wives followed: Fhesiah, Ophelia, Tanda, Bloodberri, Avalara, Ruby, and Sati. All were present and established a large half-circle behind him and Bree.
“I brought my Chief,” Bree corrected, her voice rumbling. “And we're ready to face you as promised.”
Isolyn’s glacial eyes swept up and down Bree’s massive form. The temperature in the clearing seemed to drop in direct response to the ice hound's sudden, visceral disgust.
“What in the multiverse have you done to yourself?” Isolyn murmured, her voice losing its bored cadence. She stepped closer, her eyes locked on the heavy, flaming hearthvines weaving through Bree’s emerald and red scales. “Look at you. You were born from Mother’s apex bloodline. A terror of fang, bone, and absolute, fiery destruction. And you have polluted it with flora? You look like an overgrown garden.”
Ainora floated down beside her sister, emerald static crackling aggressively as she circled Bree. The lightning wolf’s nose twitched, picking up the deep, conceptual scent of Brigid's nature and the Savage Forgemother path.