The packhouse felt different after the challenge announcement, and it was not louder or quieter but simply wrong in a way that settled under the skin and refused to leave.
I noticed it the second I stepped inside that morning because the air itself seemed tighter, like every wolf in the building was holding their breath and waiting for something ugly to happen.
That was all it had taken for everything to start unraveling. I walked down the hallway toward the council room with a folder tucked under my arm, and I had been trying to keep working even though the complaints and patrol reports inside suddenly felt pointless compared to everything else happening in the pack.
The matebond pulsed steadily in the back of my mind, and I could feel Ezra somewhere deeper inside the packhouse where t
