The air was thick with the scent of wet earth and the lingering mist from the storm that had passed through the night before. The rogue pack’s territory had always been eerie in its stillness, but now, after the trial, it felt heavier, more charged. The strange energy that had pressed down on me during the trial hadn’t dissipated, it lingered, swirling in the air like a faint hum, a reminder of the power that was growing within me.
I stood at the edge of the clearing, my hand resting on the rough bark of a tree, the bond at my neck pulsing faintly, as though it too had been affected by the trial. My body was sore, every bruise from the previous days still raw, but the ache in my muscles was nothing compared to the shifting storm inside of me. The trials had opened something, something I w
