Aurelia's POV
They burned the storage house before dawn.
Not because it couldn't be saved, but because no one wanted Nightfall's touch lingering in the heart of the pack. The flames climbed fast and clean, eating through charred beams and fear alike. Wolves stood in a wide circle and watched, silent, shoulders squared. No one cried out. Grief sat heavy, private.
I stood with Lucien a few paces back, the heat brushing my face. Raffyn had insisted on overseeing the burn himself, fire precise and controlled, as if proving something to the watching crowd. Talon moved among the warriors, speaking quietly, assigning watches, adjusting routes. Silvara lingered near the treeline, her gaze fixed beyond the smoke.
"He didn't need to kill him," I said softly.
Lucien didn't answer right away. "He wanted us to know he could."
The truth of it pressed into my chest. Jarek hadn't breached the ward with force; he'd reached through a weakness and taken a life to show us how thin safety could be. The pack felt it. I felt it. Staying now wasn't neutral—it had weight.
By midmorning, the council called for order.
They gathered in the lodge with doors thrown open, as if sunlight might keep fear at bay. Elder Bram looked older than he had the night before. The staff in his hands trembled, just slightly.
"We have lost one of our own," he began. "And we will lose more if this continues."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"Our defenses will hold," a warrior said. "She sealed the ward."
"For now," Bram replied. His eyes found me, then slid away. "Nightfall adapts."
Silvara stepped forward before anyone could speak for me. "He will keep striking soft targets. Homes. Scouts. People who can't fight back."
A mother tightened her grip on her child.
The room shifted. Fear wanted an answer. Fear wanted a sacrifice.
Bram cleared his throat. "There is… an alternative."
Lucien's posture changed instantly. Raffyn's jaw set. Talon went very still.
Bram continued, choosing his words with care. "If Aurelia were to relocate—temporarily—beyond our borders, Nightfall's focus would move with her. The pack could regroup."
Silence fell.
I felt it then, the subtle pull inside me—not magic, not compulsion. Expectation.
Raffyn took a step forward. "You're asking her to be bait."
"I'm asking her to be pragmatic," Bram said. "One life to save many."
Lucien's wings flared, light flashing along their edges. "You don't get to decide whose life counts."
Talon raised a hand, voice calm but iron-hard. "This won't end the threat. It will confirm to Jarek that pressure works."
"And if we do nothing?" Bram shot back.
I stepped forward.
"I won't run," I said. My voice didn't shake. "But I won't hide behind you either."
Bram's eyes met mine. "Then what do you propose?"
I took a breath and let it out slowly. "I stay. And I move."
Confusion rippled.
"I don't leave the pack," I continued. "But I stopped sleeping in the same place. I train. I travel the perimeter. I find it difficult to predict."
Silvara nodded once. "Uncertainty cuts deeper than distance."
Talon's lips curved faintly. "And it forces Nightfall to overextend."
Raffyn grinned, sharp and dangerous. "Finally. A plan that bites back."
Lucien looked at me, searching my face. "You're sure?"
I was. Not because I wasn't afraid—but because staying still felt worse. "If I go quietly, he wins. If I stay and move, he has to chase."
The council whispered among themselves. Bram closed his eyes briefly, then nodded. "Very well. This is the council's decision."
Not approval. Not trust.
Acceptance.
As the meeting broke apart, wolves filed out with new orders and old doubts. Some avoided my gaze. Others met it with something like resolve. The pack was changing, slowly, unevenly—but it was changing.
Outside, the smoke had thinned. The air felt clearer.
Silvara fell into step beside me. "You understand what you've done."
"I do," I said.
"You've made yourself the center of the board."
I glanced at the treeline, where the forest watched back. "Then I'll make him regret moving his pieces."
She smiled then—not kindly, but with approval. "Good. We start tonight."
Lucien's hand found mine. Raffyn's presence flanked my other side. Talon walked just ahead, already planning routes.
Staying wasn't the safe choice.
But it was the right one.
And somewhere beyond the ridge, I knew Jarek felt it—the shift, the challenge.
The game had changed.