The bond returns.
But it does not return to everyone.
⸻
At first, no one notices.
The world breathes again.
The ache of presence settles back into the land.
The wolves feel the familiar pull of one another, of duty, of the child at the heart of it all.
Balance resumes.
Almost.
⸻
Jason sees it in the data before anyone feels it in their bones.
A discrepancy.
Not a gap.
Not a break.
A shadow.
“Zane,” he says quietly, not wanting to say it aloud yet.
“Some of the lattice isn’t reconnecting.”
Zane’s jaw tightens.
“Who.”
Jason hesitates.
Then answers.
“The ones who leaned back farthest.”
⸻
Old Korrin feels it at dusk.
He stands at the edge of the circle while the other elders talk, laugh softly, breathe in shared presence.
He is not pushed away.
No one bars him.
But t
