The world outside their mountain site and shielded labs continued to turn. The dismantling of Crescent Moon was a messy, corporate affair played out in boardrooms and on financial networks. Xavier’s empire absorbed the viable assets; the rest was left to crumble. Marcus was formally stripped of his title in absentia, a ghost haunting the ruins of his own ambition.
The official story held: a tragic, manipulated conflict, resolved by Silverfang’s steadfast strength and the Alpha’s clear-eyed justice. The “whirlwind romance” and “profound partnership” with his Luna was a favored sidebar in the business press a humanizing angle for the formidable Reynolds.
But within the wider, secretive shifter world, other threads were being pulled.
Lysander of the Ashwind Pack watched the carefully curat
