It happened without ceremony.
No council meeting.
No announcement.
No warning.
Denise noticed the shift at sunrise—not in people’s behavior this time, but in their speech.
Whispers were gone.
Replaced.
Not louder.
Not clearer.
Just… more certain.
She heard it first from a passing pair of wolves near the outer path.
“—the pairing.”
That was it.
Nothing more.
But it made Denise stop.
Liam noticed immediately.
“What is it?” he asked.
Denise frowned slightly.
“I think they’ve started calling us something.”
Liam’s expression tightened a fraction.
“What?”
Denise listened again as another group passed farther down the trail.
“The pairing is meeting with the council later.”
She exhaled slowly.
“That,” she said, “sounds like a name.”
Liam didn’t respond right away.
He was
