(Arielle)
The silence after the wolf stabilised was wrong.
Not because it was tense.
Because it was too still.
Arielle rose slowly, her attention still partially anchored to him, tracking the way the connection eased but did not disappear. It didn’t retract the way a normal interaction would.
It lingered.
Soft.
Present.
Like something had been opened—and simply left that way.
The others standing nearby had not moved.
Not one of them.
Their focus wasn’t on the wolf anymore.
It was on her.
Arielle felt it immediately.
Not through sight.
Through the bond.
Their awareness shifted toward her in uneven waves—some subtle, some sharper, some resisting entirely. It wasn’t coordinated. It wasn’t deliberate.
It was instinct.
Her breath slowed slightly.
“That’s new,” she said under
