The pack did not sleep easily that night.
The air in Bloodstone carried an unfamiliar tension, a thrum that set the wolves’ instincts on edge. Every creak of a branch outside, every faint howl in the distance had the younger wolves bristling, hackles raised before reason caught up with them.
By dawn, the halls were restless. Patrols had returned with nothing new, no sign of blood or movement, but the silence of the woods felt unnatural.
Crystal stood in the training yard, the chill morning mist curling around her ankles. Bree paced inside her mind, restless, the she-wolf’s claws scraping softly at the edges of Crystal’s consciousness.
"They’re watching us", Bree murmured. "From the shadows. Waiting."
Crystal tilted her head, scanning the tree line beyond the open field. The mist was t
