What the Pack Sees

The dining hall told me everything about how this pack worked, and nobody had to say a single word.

Seventy wolves at rough-hewn tables in three long rows, and every seat placement was a sentence.

Senior wolves close enough to Cade to be consulted, far enough to show deference.

Younger wolves in the middle rows, earning their proximity.

Pack members with families near the kitchen practical and warm.

And me at the far end of the high table, in the seat reserved for people the pack hadn’t decided what to do with yet.

Guest seating.

A polite word for the outer edge.

The responses came in three categories.

Older wolves the ones who had fought in the war looked at me with flat, open hostility. Not aggressive. Just clear.

They had lost people.

I was a symbol of the side that had cost them something.

Younger wolves were curious in the way people are curious about things they’ve been told are dangerous.

Quick looks.

Pulled away the moment I noticed them.

The children just stared.

A little boy near the middle table watched me for a solid minute with bread halfway to his mouth, completely unaware he was doing it.

I found that one the easiest to handle.

The food was simple and good.

I was eating and cataloging and minding my own business when she sat down.

She didn’t ask.

She chose the empty seat two places from me and arranged herself in it with the ease of someone who had never been told no.

Beautiful in a way she was fully aware of.

Dark hair, Sharp eyes.

The kind of woman who used her appearance the way a soldier uses a weapon deliberately, efficiently, always toward a specific objective.

“You’re the treaty bride,” she said with a smile that held no warmth. “Wren.”

I looked at her.

“I’ve been curious,” she continued, reaching for her cup. “Human brides are such a particular solution, aren’t they. Useful for politics. Useful for the nursery.”

A slight tilt of her head.

“Not much else, from what I understand.”

The table around us grew quieter.

Not silent.

Just that subtle reduction in noise that meant people were listening without wanting to look like it.

I set my fork down.

“You’re third rank at this table,” I said.

“Which means you’re important enough to sit here but not close enough to the Alpha. You introduced yourself before I introduced myself to you, which tells me my presence threatens something you’ve built.”

I tilted my head slightly.

“And you opened with an insult disguised as an observation, which means you’ve decided I’m not smart enough to recognize the difference.”

I picked my fork back up.

“That’s three tactical errors in under a minute.”

A pause.

“I’d slow down if I were you.”

The table went completely silent.

Wren’s smile stayed, but her eyes changed.

The warmth left them entirely.

She opened her mouth.

“Wren.”

Cade’s voice came from the head of the table level and unhurried.

“The eastern patrol report. You mentioned an anomaly near the ridge crossing.”

A pause.

“Walk me through it.”

Not loud, Not a reprimand.

Just a question from a man who expected an answer and intended to keep expecting one for as long as it took.

Wren turned to him and answered.

Cade followed with another question.

And another.

By the time the thread was exhausted, the moment was gone.

There was no space left for whatever she had been planning to say next.

He didn’t look at me once.

I didn’t acknowledge it.

I ate and watched the room and thought about the fact that he had called me a political burden four hours ago and had just quietly shut down the first wolf who tried to act on that assessment.