LOGINHe huffed a quiet, humorless laugh. “Nothing about him ever was.”He scrubbed a hand over his face, fingers dragging down hard. “I thought seeing him stripped of everything would fix something. Bring my parents back. Or at least make the loss smaller.”I shook my head slowly. “Justice doesn’t heal.
Silvermen’s laughter faded slowly, leaving behind a silence that felt too thin to trust, stretched tight like glass about to crack.He lifted his head, blood drying dark against his temple, eyes bright with something ugly and satisfied. Even stripped of rank, even bound, he still carried himself lik
Ben stood directly across from Silvermen, close enough that the smell of blood and dirt clung to both of them. His posture was straight, shoulders set, hands loose at his sides. His face was stripped bare of everything but truth. No anger left to burn. No fear left to hide.“My father taught me loya
The violence did not end all at once.It slowed.That was the difference Morgan made.Where Silvermen’s warriors fought in surges of fury and command driven obedience, Morgan’s forces moved with discipline. Lines formed and held. Wolves disengaged when ordered. Injuries were contained instead of esc
Even the wind seemed to hesitate.Silvermen’s smile thinned, the pleasant edge sharpening into something cold. “Kneel.”The word cracked through the air like a whip, sharp and absolute.I stayed where I was.Sacred pack law was clear. A challenge had been issued. Words had been exchanged. There were
The clearing had been chosen carefully.Wide enough to be seen. Narrow enough to be contained.Pack land, but neutral in the way only contested borders ever were. The ground was packed dirt and old grass, trampled flat by decades of meetings that pretended to be about trade and territory instead of







