The first shout tore through the territory just after dawn.
It wasn’t a challenge cry.
It wasn’t alarm.
It was panic.
Lila heard it from the edge of the inner paths, where she had been walking alone, trying to quiet the restless pull in her chest that had begun to feel uncomfortably familiar. Her hand drifted to her abdomen without conscious thought, fingers pressing lightly as if checking something she wasn’t ready to name.
Footsteps thundered past her.
Patrol wolves.
Fast. Tight formation.
And then she heard the name.
“Elara.”
Her breath caught.
Lila followed at a distance, heart pounding, senses sharpening. The Alpha chambers came into view just as the patrol dragged a woman forward between them. Elara’s hair was wild, her eyes fever-bright, her scent chaotic with fear, trium
