I've watched Kalen cry exactly once in five years.
It was the night the Elder Council declared me a traitor—six minutes in his empty office, head in his hands, alone. I'd hated him too much that day to feel anything about it.
That was the first time.
This is the second.
He goes to Ethan's cave—the old northern storage system where the healers keep their cold compounds. Ethan's there when we arrive, sitting on a crate in the half-dark like he's been waiting.
He was waiting.
Kalen grabs him by the collar before Ethan can speak. His hands are shaking—a detail that would horrify every wolf in the Shadowmoon Pack, because Alpha hands don't shake. Alpha hands curl into fists and project absolute control.
These are not those hands.
"Tell me," Kalen says. His voice is barely intact. "Every
