Chapter Twelve
Peace never lasts long in a pack that smells change.
By the third day after the moon trial, the forest no longer felt watchful.
It felt divided.
Lila sensed it before anyone said it out loud. Conversations stopped when she approached. Eyes followed her, not with fear now—but calculation.
“She doesn’t like you,” Darian muttered under his breath as they crossed the clearing.
Lila didn’t need to ask who he meant.
The pale-eyed woman—Seraphine—stood near the council stones, speaking in low tones to two older wolves. When she noticed Lila looking, she didn’t glance away.
“She doesn’t hate me,” Lila replied quietly. “She’s measuring me.”
Darian’s jaw tightened. “She’s loyal to structure. And you just rewrote it.”
Lila exhaled slowly. “Then maybe structure needed rewriti
