The courtyard explodes into motion so violently that the air itself seems to tear, steel ringing against steel, bodies slamming together with the sound of bone and muscle colliding at full force, and for a heartbeat there is no pattern at all, only noise and instinct and the certainty that everything has finally broken open. Adam’s hand tightens around mine for a fraction of a second before we are forced apart by the surge of bodies between us, and the bond flares bright and unyielding, not panicked, not frantic, but fierce in a way that feels ancient and absolute.
Our pack moves as one.
They do not scatter. They do not hesitate. Wolves who have trained together, bled together, held ground together after loss and shock and betrayal, fall into formation without orders needing to be shoute
