Riven's POV
The first affected pack on Kane's list lived three days' ride from Mooncrest — a modest settlement called Thornwatch, rebuilt slowly in the seventeen years since he'd ordered it burned.
He rode there alone, deliberately, refusing Damien's offer of an escort.
"If I arrive surrounded by Mooncrest warriors," he'd said, "it looks like I need protection from the people I wronged. I'd rather arrive as myself. Whatever that costs."
The village elder met him at the gates, an old wolf with a face lined by decades of grief he'd personally caused.
"You have considerable nerve," the elder said, "showing your face here without an army at your back."
"I don't deserve an army's protection from this conversation," Riven said. "I came to listen. And to offer whatever restitution your peop
