REJECTED BY THE ALPHA, CLAIMED BY HIS BLOOD
Not because it could break.
Because she was still learning how to trust it would not.
By late afternoon, the light softened into something slower, stretching shadows across the outer path where the ground dipped unevenly before rising again.
Lyra stood watching a group repair a broken wheel.
They worked without urgency, adjusting the axle, testing the balance, correcting each other without defensiveness. The wheel turned once, caught slightly, then turned again, steadier.
It did not require perfection to move.
That, more than anything, held her attention.