** Ryder’s POV **
We don’t celebrate. We don’t howl with victory cries or shake ourselves clean of blood and fear. We simply settle, our shoulders relaxing after carrying too much weight. Maybe all that will come later.
The pack moves quietly. Not in shock or grief, but in assessment. Enforcers regroup, bloodied but standing. Healers move with practised efficiency, hands glowing, voices calm. Leo walks between fallen hunters, checking them, issuing clipped orders, keeping everyone steady and controlled.
He doesn’t look triumphant. He looks exactly the way a Gamma should after a battle… focused, alert, already thinking three steps ahead. I watch him for a moment before turning back to the centre of it all.
Paige is sitting on the porch steps, wrapped in a blanket too thin for the night
