Rain began falling in earnest before the messenger reached the center of the clearing.
The first scattered drops quickly became a steady downpour, drumming against shelter roofs and turning packed earth into dark mud beneath dozens of hurried feet. Wolves emerged from beneath awnings and training shelters, drawn by the urgency of the young patrol wolf's arrival. The storm overhead seemed determined to swallow the evening whole as thunder rolled across the mountains and flashes of distant lightning illuminated the forest beyond the camp boundaries.
Nyra reached the messenger first.
The wolf couldn't have been older than twenty. Rain streamed down his face as he struggled to catch his breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the pace he had maintained through the forest.
"What h
