~Aiden The air smelled like smoke, sweat, and victory. Ashenhowl had never sounded like this before. Drums thundered in uneven rhythms, some fast, some wild…no coordination, no structure, just raw celebration. Wolves howled into the sky, their voices overlapping in a chaotic harmony that echoed through the forest. Laughter broke out in bursts, sharp and loud, followed by claps, stomps, and the shrill notes of flutes that someone had probably dug out from storage just for this moment. We had won. For the first time in what felt like forever, no one was looking over their shoulder. I stood just outside the pack house, leaning slightly against one of the wooden pillars, my hands tucked deep into my pockets. A slow smile stretched across my face as I watched them. Guards who had barely spoken more than a few words to each other before were now throwing arms around shoulders, shouting songs at the top of their lungs. Some had already shifted, their wolves darting through the clearing
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