He came out of the tree line at midday with twelve wolves behind him and his hands away from his weapons.

Marina saw him before anyone else did. She always had. Some part of her shadow magic was tuned to him whether she wanted it to be or not, a frequency she couldn't turn off. She felt him the way you feel a storm before you hear it.

"Hold," she said.

Bryn and two others were already shifting. She put her arm out flat and they stopped, reading her face, reading the situation. Three days ago they wouldn't have. She noted that and filed it away.

Silvain came up on...