~Maxwell~

The four Nightshade wolves had been in the eastern lodge since before dawn.

Word had spread through the pack house by afternoon quietly, the way difficult things always spread, moving from wolf to wolf in lowered voices and glances until it reached the elders, and then it stopped being quiet entirely.

Garrison found Alora first.

She was in the corridor outside the healers' room, her third cup of Petra's broth in hand, listening to Cade's updated territorial report with a calm ...