Lena's POV
The formal council objection came three days later.
I was present for the beginning of it by accident. The council had been called for what was described in the household calendar as a general intelligence review. I had been seated at the far end of the long table, in the place that had been assigned to me since the first briefing, and I had brought my notebook and my clean, careful attention, and I had been prepared to do what I had been doing in every council session since my arrival: listen more than I spoke, and understand the full shape of the room before I chose where to place my weight.
The challenge came from a senior wolf named Deverin. He was narrow-shouldered and precise in his movements, the kind of man who had always operated best in the margins of larger persona
