LOGINI stared at Ezra.Then at the plate still in my hands.“Of course they are.”He opened the door.I took the food with me.Whatever was coming from the east could wait until I finished the bread.By the time we reached the main corridor, Darius was already speaking through the pack link.Eastern scouts. Numbers.The reply came quickly.Fourteen confirmed. Possibly more behind the ridge. Two groups. No challenge issued.Fourteen.
The first sign that my body had finally noticed what I had done was hunger.Not ordinary hunger.I looked at the loaf of bread on the infirmary table and briefly considered whether cutting it was an unnecessary delay.Maren caught me staring.“Eat.”I did not need telling twice.The bread lasted less than a minute.Ezra leaned against the wall, watching me reach for another piece.I pointed it at him. “Do not judge me.”“I wasn’t.”“You were.”
Vivian did not wait for anyone to agree.She crossed the inner corridor at a pace that made the rest of us follow.“Where are the guards supposed to be?” I asked.“Which guards?”“The ones who aren’t there.”She looked at me.Helpful.I tried again.Through the pack link, I could feel the clusters now.South was still crowded with families and the wolves helping them.West carried pain, smoke and the sharp concentration of everyone trying to contain the stores.The infirmary was busy too. Injured wolves arriving. Healers calling for supplies. Guards moving people out of their way.But between those places was a stretch of almost nothing.“Here,” I said.Vivian stopped.We were near the central passage leading back towards the main hall. Two guards should have been visible from where we stood.There was one.He was halfway down the corridor, speaking to another wolf through the link.Vivian turned to him.“Where is your second?”“Sent south.”“By whom?”The guard hesitated. “The family
The doors were open.The panic got louder.For one stupid second, I had expected the opposite.Families spilled into the corridor around us. Children clung to parents. Older wolves leaned against whoever could hold them upright. One man kept looking behind him as though the wall might close again.Then the pack link hit me.Where do we go?My son is missing.Someone needs a healer.Is the west yard safe?Alpha?Mum?I took one step back.Ilvane held our balance.One.I knew.That did not make it easy.A guard was trying to direct families towards the main hall while another called for the injured to be separated. Two women were arguing over whether the children should stay together. Somewhere beneath all of it, someone kept calling for a man named Tomas.Everything mattered.That was the problem.I could not answer everything.My shoulder throbbed where the other wolf had bitten through Ilvane’s fur, but even the pain disappeared beneath the noise.Ezra was already moving.“Families t
The crying grew louder before we reached the south family wing.Some of it came through the pack link.Some of it came through the doors.Ezra reached the corridor first and found three wolves already trying to force the main entrance open.“It won’t move,” one of them said. “Something’s holding it from the other side.”“How many inside?”“Twenty-six we know of. There could be more in the back rooms.”Twenty-six.Ilvane pushed forward.Find them.
The sound came from the hidden passage before any of us moved.Claws scraped stone.Luca turned towards the opening.“Company.”A wolf burst through the doorway at full speed.Ilvane recognised the threat before I did.Enemy.We ran.“Aurora!”Ezra’s voice followed me across the yard, but the other wolf was already pulling away.Or pretending to.I did not know the difference yet.







