LOGINWhen Shaina had recovered enough to travel, they left Howlinghaven without further delay and headed straight for Silvershade territory.
Mistas and Pauliana were already waiting at the main residence. Word of the facility attack had reached them ahead of the convoy, and the moment the vehicles stopped both of them were at the doors.Pauliana took Shaina’s face in her hands first, checking the healing lines of the bites with a mother’s eye. Mistas stood close behind her, worry plain onThe petition hung in the air only a moment before the hall split into open argument.Wilfred kept his glass in hand and his voice even, as if reason itself favored him.“Peace requires a higher seat,” he said. “Alphas rule their own ground. That is not in question. But when packs collide, when borders burn, when old grudges outrun local judgment, someone must stand above the quarrel long enough to end it. How many times have we watched two Alphas refuse every intermediary suggestion because neither answers to anyone but themselves? Unity is not a feeling. It is structure. The Council is prepared to be that structure.”Faustino rose from the floor-level table without haste. The lamps caught the gray at his temples as he faced the dais.“We already serve that part,” he answered. “Intermediaries exist to step between conflicts and hold the line under the Moon Goddess’s ruling. We call the parties. We hear the claims. We bind the judgment to Her law. If peace and unity a
Evening brought the banquet into a long hall lit by pale lamps and open to the rising moon.The seating said more than any speech. Most of the High Council elders occupied a raised dais along the far wall, a single elevated table set higher than every other surface in the room. Elder Wilfred sat at its center. Only a smaller group, Elder Faustino and four others, had taken places among the Alpha families on the floor level, level with the packs they were supposed to serve as intermediaries.The division inside the Council was visible at a glance. Faustino’s numbers were the minority. Wilfred held the majority.Liliana and her family were guided to their assigned table. Once seated, she mapped the hall without turning her head. Clementine’s family sat immediately to their right, then Luna Lea’s, then Kaelen’s and the rest of the allied line. The entire right side of the floor held their people. To the left, Blacklore and its circle filled the matching stret
The High Council lands filled by degrees as the Blue Moon window opened.Car after car passed the outer checkpoints. Immediate families of every pack Alpha stepped down onto stone paths lined with temporary markers, each house already named and assigned across the broad sweep of Council territory. The layout stretched farther than a single glance could hold, separate residences, shared roads, and the quiet pressure of seventy-two hours without weapons, devices, or any line back to the outside.Redborne’s assigned house sat directly beside Blacklore’s.Only a thick wall of fencing ran between the two properties, high enough to block easy sight lines and close enough that voices might carry on a still night. When Matthias brought the car to a stop in front of their gate, the arrangement was already clear.Paloma stood at the Blacklore entrance.She leaned back against the post as if she had been waiting for exactly this arrival, gaze moving over Matthias
When Shaina had recovered enough to travel, they left Howlinghaven without further delay and headed straight for Silvershade territory.Mistas and Pauliana were already waiting at the main residence. Word of the facility attack had reached them ahead of the convoy, and the moment the vehicles stopped both of them were at the doors. Pauliana took Shaina’s face in her hands first, checking the healing lines of the bites with a mother’s eye. Mistas stood close behind her, worry plain on his features and a colder anger held just beneath it.“You’re thinner,” Pauliana said quietly. “And you shouldn’t have been on those cliffs at all.”“I’m standing,” Shaina answered. “That’s enough for now.”They moved inside together. Once the formal greetings were done and the doors closed on the private sitting room, the fuller picture came out. The Howlinghaven breach had not been the only strike. Antitoxin shipments bound for nearby allied packs had been hit as well, delays
When the main hall filled, Matthias did not waste time on speeches.“Pull the internal records,” he ordered his men. “Logs, access times, door codes, every entry tied to staff clearances. I want the system traced from the inside out. If someone opened a door for her, I want the name.”Workstations opened along the side of the hall. Screens lit with cascading data while the gathered staff stood in ordered rows. Shaina came in on Liliana’s arm, still pale and carefully upright.“You should be in bed,” Liliana murmured.“I need to see her face when they bring her in,” Shaina answered. “I won’t mistake it.”They were still watching the first layers of logs when the trackers returned.Between them walked a young woman in dusty clothes, wrists bound, expression tight with the knowledge that the run was over. Shaina’s gaze locked on her at once.“That’s her. The one who offered to help with the sedatives.”The young woman kept her eyes down and said nothing.
They reached Howlinghaven as the night’s last edge began to thin.Healers who could still stand met them at the inner gate and took Shaina at once, cleaning bite wounds, stitching the worst tears, and settling her into a recovery ward under close watch. Matthias refused to leave the doorway until the first bandages were secure. Liliana stayed long enough to see her mother’s breathing even out, then stepped back into the corridor where the work of the facility was already shifting from crisis to repair.Redborne men and remaining Silvershade staff cleared rubble from the broken courtyard, braced damaged doors, and began boarding the sections of wall the berserkers had torn open. Tools rang against stone. Orders moved back and forth in short, practical bursts. The dead had been covered and set aside, while the living kept their hands busy.In a quieter stretch of hallway Matthias and Liliana spoke in low voices.“That ledge,” Matthias said. “They were on us b
Since Liliana was born, Shaina and Matthias had become very busy with pack duties and business. But they always made sure to set aside time for their family. They ate dinner together most nights. They read stories to Liliana before bed. And on quiet mornings, the three of them would walk in the
The weeks after their bonding turned into months of pure heat. Matthias and Shaina could not keep their hands off each other. Whenever Matthias finished his work early and came home to the mansion, Shaina would never leave their shared bedroom. She waited for him there, already wet and ready.The
For a week, the Redborne mansion buzzed with celebration. Shaina settled into her new life as Luna of the Redborne pack. Servants bowed when she passed. Her days filled with learning the layout of the grand house and planning small projects with the funds Matthias had given her.Matthias stayed bu
"Matthias, I accept the bond between us." Shaina stepped forward, helping the kneeling Redborne Lycan to his feet. Shaina was the sought-after Luna from the Silvershade Pack, home to the most dominant Omega bloodline. "Shaina, you will never regret choosing me," Matthias said, gripping her hands







