The territory did not erupt after the assembly.
That, more than anything, unsettled Aurelia.
No shouts followed her departure. No open defiance. No immediate punishment. The wolves dispersed slowly, deliberately, each returning to their paths with expressions that revealed nothing and everything all at once.
Silence, she had learned, was never neutral.
It chose sides long before voices did.
Aurelia walked the outer ring of the inner grounds, Mira beside her, both of them aware of how many eyes tracked their movement without appearing to. Wolves no longer pretended not to look. They didn't whisper. They observed.
Measured.
Adjusted.
"They're not calming down," Mira said quietly.
"No," Aurelia replied. "They're recalibrating."
That word again. It echoed in her thoughts like a pressure point she couldn't ignore. The bond beneath her skin responded faintly, not tightening, not resisting—simply alert.
As if listening alongside her.
