The pack did not fracture after the assembly.
That, Aurelia realized, was the most dangerous outcome.
They moved instead with a new, unsettled cohesion—wolves lingering closer together, patrols doubling without instruction, sentinels watching the borders with an intensity that bordered on reverence. Fear had not scattered them. It had focused them.
And focus, once sharpened, could be turned.
Aurelia felt it as she crossed the inner grounds, the way eyes followed her now without shame. Not all of them held awe. Some carried resentment. Others calculations. A few—too few—held relief.
She had shifted the balance.
She had not resolved it.
"The elders won't sleep tonight," Mira said quietly as they descended the stone steps away from the council hall.
"No," Aurelia agreed. "They'll plan."
"That worries me more than anger."
"As it should."
