POV: Xavier

Tell me, General, would you be proposing peace if we hadn't just destroyed your secret prison?"

"Probably not," Hawthorne admitted. "But that doesn't make the offer less genuine. The world is changing. We can either adapt together or destroy each other. I choose adaptation."

"As do I," a new voice said.

Alpha Celeste walked through the military line, the soldiers parting for her automatically. The ancient Alpha's presence commanded respect even from humans. Behind her came other members of the Wolf Council, including Damien.

"The Council tracked the crisis here," Celeste explained. "We're prepared to enter negotiations for a formal supernatural-human council. The first in history."

I looked...