Bride of the Human Alpha
A beat, then "Yes."
So we ran. Shahira started lagging behind a few miles in, but I overrode her objections, and picked her up, packed cut and all. We came home at dawn but Freedomborn was not the quiet home we'd left. The eastern wall bore fresh damage — stone-black with soot, a section of the gate structure collapsed inward. Wolves moved through the settlement with the organized urgency of aftermath rather than ongoing crisis. The coordinated strike Lyanna had warned was possible had come while we were in Silverbrook, drawing Freedomborn's defenders into a fight on their own ground. There had been losses. I read it in the faces that turned toward us as we came through the perimeter. The pa