The reports began arriving three days after the bond fractured.
At first they sounded like rumors. A small pack in northern Italy refused to attend the council. A rogue group moving through the Austrian forests preaching freedom from Alpha law. Whispers of a wolf who spoke of stolen destiny and false queens.
Raya listened without interrupting, though her hands rested flat on the stone table to keep them steady.
The hollow thread inside her chest had been quiet since the night she tried to sever it, but it had not vanished. It felt like a scar pulled tight before a storm.
Jale finished reading the latest parchment and lifted her gaze. “The wolves following him are not feral,” she said carefully. “They are organized.”
“Led,” Jax added, his voice dark.
Derek stood at the far end of the
