The den smelled different when I walked back in.
Not the obvious things—smoke, food, wet fur. Those were the same. It was the undercurrent that had changed. The sharp, metallic tang of fear had thinned. In its place, something raw and uncertain hummed in the walls.
Expectation.
Maera, Bryn, and Corren were already waiting in the main room when Jarek and I stepped through the door. A few others lingered in the shadows—betas, elders, young adults pretending not to eavesdrop.
Conversations died as quickly as they started.
“Interesting,” Bryn said, pushing off the mantel as his gaze flicked between us. “You two walking in together. Bit late for a couples’ entrance, don’t you think?”
“Bryn,” Maera said warningly.
“I’m not wrong,” he muttered, but he subsided onto the arm of a chair.
Cor
