They left at dawn.
Four wolves — Levi, Ember, and two Silver Fang warriors named Callan and Mirra who had been chosen for the mission because they were fast, quiet, and possessed the rare diplomatic quality of being able to enter a hostile pack's territory without immediately making everyone want to fight them. A small delegation. Lucas had wanted to send more — through the bond, Arvella had felt the Alpha's instinct to wrap his Beta in a wall of warriors and send them north in a formation that said we come in peace but we brought war just in case. Arvella had talked him down.
"We're asking packs to trust us," she had said, standing in the study at midnight, the maps spread between them, the bond humming with the quiet tension of two people making decisions that could get someone they lo
