Omniscient POV
The first scream came from the Desert Pack area at exactly dawn.
Alpha Rodriguez was checking on the tear that had appeared near their water source when something grabbed his ankle. Not a hand - something cold and empty that felt like frozen air trying to pull him apart from the inside.
"Maria, help me!" he yelled to his mate, but when she rushed forward, the thing let go and disappeared back through the tear.
Rodriguez looked down at his leg where the thing had touched him. His skin was gray and cold, like all the life had been sucked out of it. Worse, he couldn't feel his link to his pack anymore. The warm feeling that always linked him to his wolves was totally gone.
"I can't sense anyone," he whispered in horror. "It's like I'm not part of the pack anymore."
Two hundred miles away, something similar was happening to the Mountain Ridge Pack. The scout who had fallen through their hole was calling for help, but his voice was getting weaker and stranger.
