Reign didn't wait for the armies to reach her.
"I'm going out," she announced to her commanders. "To the territories that haven't declared yet. The ones still deciding which side to join."
"That's suicide," Tarek protested. "You'll be exposed. Vulnerable."
"I'll be visible. There's a difference." She pulled on her travel cloak. "They need to see me. Not as a threat on the horizon but as an Alpha who stands in front of them and demands loyalty."
"And if they refuse?"
"Then they've made their choice." Frost gathered at her fingertips. "But I'm betting most will choose survival."
She left with fifty wolves. Small enough to move fast, large enough to look serious. The direwolf ranged ahead, scouting.
Their first stop was a rogue settlement in the western wastes. Two hundred wolves livin
