Kael’s POV.

I wake on election day with strange clarity. After three months of campaigning, today the pack decides. I've done what I can. Run honestly. Proposed real change. Encouraged other candidates.

Now it's out of my hands. That should terrify me. Instead, I feel calm. I stand at my window overlooking Blackridge as I have for twelve years. The city has changed. So have I.

The council hall was rebuilt, more open, less imposing. New systems are in place. A pack learning to question. I'm ...