Elara POV:
I feel him before I see him. It isn’t the bond flaring or Velarys stirring with warning. Those sensations are sharp, unmistakable things, the kind that flood my senses and demand immediate attention. This is something quieter. The pack feels it, and the land feels it.
Caelan has crossed back onto our territory.
I’m standing in the courtyard when he appears through the trees, the evening light filtering through the branches in long strips of gold that catch in his dark hair and along the strong line of his shoulders. Wolves scattered across the grounds glance toward him instinctively, their posture straightening in quiet acknowledgement before they return to what they were doing.
He pauses briefly to exchange a few words with a patrol leader near the gate, his voice low and c
