THE FRACTURE LINE
Nightfall did not feel the same.
Nothing visible had changed. The watchtowers still stood. The patrols still rotated at dawn. The scent of pine and smoke still lingered in the air.
But something beneath the surface had shifted.
Elara felt it before she could name it.
Wolves stepped aside more quickly now when she passed. Conversations paused just a fraction too long. Eyes lingered ,not with warmth, not entirely with suspicion either , but with something heavier.
Awareness.
She had become something to measure.
She tried not to let it settle into her bones.
Tried to remind herself that fear after chaos was natural. Ravik had attacked. The ground had split. Of course the pack would feel unsettled.
But the hum inside her had grown sharper over the last two days.
An
