Seasons change quietly when you’re not watching for them.
The first frost melts into rain.
The rain gives way to warmth.
The warmth settles into something steady.
And before you realize it, a year has passed.
The territory feels different.
Not because the land has changed.
But because the people within it have.
Laughter travels farther now.
There’s less tension in the air.
Less of that unspoken weight that once lingered in every corner of the Alpha’s domain.
And at the center of it is Willow.
She stands in the courtyard as the morning sun stretches across the stone.
Talon stumbles forward on unsteady legs, determined and fearless.
Phoenix follows, slightly more cautious, his steps slower but deliberate.
They are no longer fragile newborns.
No longer small enough to disappea
