(Isla)
Caius finished speaking and the grounds went quiet.
I stood beside him and watched the pack absorb what they'd just been told and felt something I hadn't expected to feel standing in Ashcrest. Not satisfaction. Not the particular relief of something finished. Something quieter than both, closer to the feeling I'd had when I first crossed Ashcrest's border coming back and understood that the guards at the gate were his and not Rodan's.
Something settling into place.
The three wolves standing in front of the pack were people I recognized by face if not by name. Mid rank. Ordinary in the way most wolves were ordinary, not remarkable in any way that would have drawn attention. I'd passed them on the grounds over the years and none of them had ever looked at me with cruelty. None of
