The territory did not relax once the figure withdrew.
If anything, the silence that followed felt more deliberate—as though something had stepped back not in retreat, but in assessment. Aurelia sensed it long after the trees swallowed the last trace of movement, the awareness lingering like a held breath that refused to release.
She did not speak as she crossed back into the inner grounds.
Mira walked beside her, equally quiet, both of them attuned to the subtle shift in the pack's mood. Wolves no longer whispered openly. They watched instead. Measured. Alert. As though waiting to see which way Aurelia would turn next.
At the council hall, the guards straightened immediately, tension rippling through their stances. The doors were already open, elders visible inside, clustered in tight, murmuring groups that fell silent the moment Aurelia stepped into view.
The eldest elder stood apart from the others, his hands clasped behind his back.
"You will report," he said.
