Rowan Cole had been anticipating a shadow in his doorway for eight agonizing weeks.
He hadn't possessed the hubris to expect a directive from the Alpha’s supreme office, but he had known a reckoning would manifest. In the Ashborne territory, severe consequence tended to arrive without a herald, leaving an indelible mark. He had been drowning in that anticipation since the night of the ceremony, when he had stood anchored in the north-west quadrant of the primary ring and witnessed a biological miracle he possessed no language to codify. He had returned to the barracks, maintained state silence, and lain awake until the dawn.
Every morning for two months, he had awoken to find the memory was still burning behind his eyelids.
The encrypted dispatch had finally breached his perimeter throu
