Chapter 11: The First Scent Trial
The speaker cut off, but Gerald’s voice stayed inside the lodge.
Trial begins at moonrise.
Valentina stared at her phone until the gray crescent app dimmed. Around the table, no one rushed to fill the silence. Even Adalyn kept still, one hand braced on the chair back, her sharp mouth closed for once. Chelsea stood with her medical tablet against her ribs. Rivka’s old paper remained spread across the table, the woman with open hands beneath three wolf heads looking more like a warning than history.
Outside the lodge windows, Council drone lights blinked between the firs.
Kase moved first.
Not toward Valentina. Toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Brady asked.
“To make sure the route is not theirs alone.”
Caleb had already picked up his tablet. “
