The afternoon light coming through the high arched windows of the Alpha’s study was pale and thin, casting long, geometric shadows across the massive cedar desk. The room was unusually quiet compared to the rest of the bustling fortress, the heavy stone walls thick enough to muffle the distant clatter of the iron-shod wheels in the courtyard below.

Nila pushed the heavy oak door open, a stack of blank vellum sheets cradled under her left arm. She stopped just inside the room, her eyes finding Kaelen immediately.

He was sitting behind the desk, his broad shoulders slightly hunched as he leaned over a large, unfurled parchment map of the valley....