The morning after Riverbend left, the pack moved differently.
Not louder.
Not softer.
More careful.
Lila noticed it immediately as she stepped onto the Alpha floor, the hush that followed her footsteps no longer brittle with suspicion but tuned with attention. Wolves didn’t avert their eyes now. They met her gaze, nodded once, then went back to their work as if acknowledging her presence was as natural as breathing.
That mattered.
She paused at the balcony, letting the air cool her skin, one hand resting loosely at her side. The faint ache in her lower back reminded her she was still healing, still carrying something fragile and precious. She accepted it without resentment.
Caleb joined her moments later, offering a cup of tea without comment.
“You didn’t sleep,” she said, noting t
