The silence that followed Varrek’s declaration stretched across the council hall like a heavy storm cloud. No wolf spoke for several seconds. The words that had just been spoken carried the weight of final judgment. Nightshade had not merely rejected Mira. They had erased her.
Her name, her bloodline, and her place among them had been stripped away.
Mira stood still in the center of the hall, her expression steady even though the emptiness inside her chest felt larger than she expected.
Ryker stood beside her.
His posture had changed slightly since the Nightshade elder finished speaking. The wound in his side still bled slowly through his torn shirt, but he seemed to have forgotten it entirely.
His focus remained on the Nightshade delegation.
Varro rolled the scroll carefully before
