Reza
No one looks at me for permission.
That’s how I know the pack is holding.
As evening settles in after Bethany has left, I move through the Alpha floor without drawing attention. Doors open and close with the same unremarkable rhythm as always. Wolves pass me without hesitation, no pauses, no recalculations, no subtle shifts in posture. Conversations don’t thin or lower. Decisions don’t stall waiting for validation.
The structure holds.
Not because it has to.
Because it wants to.
Starla notices too.
- There’s no drag anymore, she murmurs. No resistance pretending to be caution.
- I know, I say back, watching the lights come on one by one across the grounds. “It feels… lighter. But also sharper.”
- Yes. Sharper.
The absence Bethany left behind isn’t a void. It’s a release, li
