The message came from a territory called Greyfen, four days northeast, one of the dozen places the Ledger's expanding network had reached out to in the past year with an offer to establish local training.
The Alpha's response was short, and not friendly.
*We don't need your framework here. We handle our own affairs. Don't send anyone.*
Cole brought it to the morning briefing the way he brought everything difficult — flatly, without editorializing, letting the facts sit on the table for whoever needed to react to them.
"That's the third refusal this year," Neva said. "The other two were polite. This one isn't."
"Do we know anything about Greyfen specifically?" Darius asked.
"Small territory," Cole said. "Maybe a hundred and twenty wolves. Isolated — they don't participate much in the
