---
The camp was silent.
Too silent.
After the Hollow retreated, the wolves returned to their lines, but there was no boasting, no howls of victory. Only fear. The revelation clung to them like smoke. Some avoided Aria’s gaze. Others whispered. And a few stared at her with barely-concealed suspicion, as though the woman’s words had already poisoned their hearts.
Kael felt it all through the bond — the way her chest tightened with guilt, the way her thoughts spun like a storm. His wolf wanted to snarl at them all, to tear out the throats of anyone who dared doubt her. But he knew this wound could not be healed with blood.
Not yet.
---
When night fell and the camp settled into uneasy rest, Kael summoned Mira into his tent.
The fire burned low between them, casting their faces in shad
