The forest clearing buzzed with pre Hunt energy as Marina crouched behind a thick oak, her silver shadow fur rippling with tension. Wolves from every corner of Bloodfang territory had gathered for the Blood Moon Hunt, their excited yips and howls filling the tinted air. But Marina's attention fixed on one figure alone.

Alpha Silvain Bloodfang stood at the clearing's edge, his red brown fur gleaming like polished copper under the blood moon's glow. He was massive, easily twice the size of the smaller wolves circling him, his presence commanding without effort. Marina had expected a brute, a savage alpha drunk on power and violence. The intelligence reports painted him...