"Open territory," I repeated. "I'm a person."
"In wolf-law, a presenting primary bloodline without protection is a resource," Mitch said. Not apologetically. Just accurately. "The law is old. It was written by people who thought in those terms."
I looked at Ryke. "Can it be contested?"
"Yes," he said. "If you have registered protection before full presentation. The Mallen formal protection I filed holds for now, but the Sunder Protocol—" He stopped.
"The Sunder what?" Mara said.
"Someone used a ritual to break a formal bond last night," Deren said, looking at Ryke. "I saw the evidence of it when I came in."
The table went very quiet.
"What?" I said.
"The formal protection filing," Ryke said. His voice was flat. Controlled. "The official version — someone targeted it. Last night, wh
