The full moon rose three nights after Obsidian's attack.

Marina stood at the edge of the forest, her wolf form restless beneath her skin. The pack house repairs were underway stone mended, blood scrubbed away, protective wards reinforced. Lyra was healing under the healer's care. The dead had been honored with proper pyres. Life was returning to something resembling normal.

Except nothing was normal.

Marina was pack again officially reinstated by Silvain's Alpha decree. The exile was lifted, her place among Bloodfang wolves restored. But restoration wasn't the same as acceptance. Some pack members welcomed her return, grateful for her role in saving their children. Others watched her with lingering...