Trust must be earned, even in blood.
The warning about the Silver Purge changed everything. This wasn't just about surviving Academy politics or rival Alphas anymore. This was about survival against an organization that had systematically murdered wolves like me for decades.
So we adapted. Quietly. Carefully.
Caleb became my strategist. Planning. Organizing. Building a network of wolves we could trust. We met in my dorm room, papers spread across my desk, the window cracked open to let in the cool evening air that carried the scent of pine and distant rain.
"We need allies," he said during our first real strategy session, his finger tracing patterns on a hand-drawn map of campus. "People who aren't afraid of your power. Who see it as an asset rather than a threat."
"And where do we find those?"
