The first time I smelled pack territory I stopped walking.
It was not something I had anticipated. I had prepared for many things over the past three days of travel. I had prepared for the emotional weight of seeing familiar landmarks. I had prepared for the possibility of running into someone who might recognize me before I was ready. I had prepared Eli for new people and new places, as well as the particular overwhelm of a wolf child entering pack space for the first time.
I had not prepared for the smell.
It hit me at the invisible line where Ashveil's neutral border air ended and Silver Moon territory began. Pine and cold water and woodsmoke and something underneath all of that which was not any single identifiable thing but which my wolf knew immediately and completely. Home. Not t
