Rowan's POV
Maren found me in my study a little before sundown, which was unusual enough on its own to put me on alert before she'd said a single word.
She rarely came to the pack house. In all the years she'd served as the pack's head healer, I could count on one hand the number of times she'd climbed the hill from the infirmary to seek me out directly, rather than sending word through one of the younger healers or simply waiting for me to visit her instead. Maren didn't chase problems. She let them come to her, the way she'd always done, patient and unhurried, certain the world would eventually arrange itself in front of her without her needing to go looking for it.
The fact that she was standing in my doorway now told me exactly how much this particular problem mattered.
"Maren." I
