Luna Vera dies at 3:47 in the morning.
I wake to the sound of a mournful howl echoing through the pack house—Kade's wolf, giving voice to grief too big for human form. Within moments, other wolves join him, the ancient tradition of mourning a Luna carrying through the predawn darkness.
I slip out of bed, checking on Asher. He's still asleep somehow, the exhaustion of childhood letting him sleep through what's waking the entire pack.
The howling continues for exactly one hour, as tradition dictates. When silence finally falls, it's heavy and absolute.
I find Kade in his office at dawn, still in the clothes he wore last night, staring out the window at nothing. Kieran sits in one of the chairs, equally silent, a bottle of whiskey on the desk between them.
Neither acknowledges my entranc
