The great hall had not felt like this since the Summit.
But different — the Summit had been charged with the specific electricity of forty-two Alpha delegations managing their positions, the political temperature of people who had something to gain or lose. This was different. This was the territory's own energy, the pack gathered not because they were required but because they wanted to be.
Five hundred wolves.
Plus the outer-territory representatives — the pack delegates from the broader Northwestern territory, the families and communities that sat within Shadowmere's authority but lived beyond the compound walls. They had come in over two days, quietly, the way packs gathered for things that mattered.
The hall was full.
I felt it through the pack bond before I entered — the warmth
