The pack learned Alden’s name before they learned what he meant.
That was deliberate.
Caleb insisted on it.
No announcement.
No ceremony.
No declaration of blood or destiny.
Alden arrived as a boy who wanted to learn.
And that, more than anything, was why the pack accepted him.
The first week, Caleb didn’t train him at all.
He walked him through the territory instead.
This river marked the eastern boundary.
These trees had watched three Alphas rise and fall.
This ridge caught the wind first when storms came.
Alden listened with a focus that surprised even Caleb. He asked questions that weren’t childish, questions about why patrols shifted at dusk instead of dawn, why certain families lived closer to the inner ring, why the pack honored some traditions but let others fade.
“Yo
