KAT
Blood and Binding
The ceremonial circle spreads before us like a target painted on earth, three concentric rings representing the packs we're about to forge into one. Morning mist clings to the ground, making everything look like we're standing in clouds. The officiants stand at cardinal points—Elder wolves from neutral territories, their faces carved with the kind of gravitas that comes from presiding over supernatural politics for too many decades. The one facing north, a silver-haired woman with eyes like winter storms, keeps glancing at me with barely concealed disapproval.
The weight of nearly a thousand gazes presses against my skin. I can smell their emotions—excitement, fear, hope, and underneath it all, the sharp tang of resistance from those who think tradition trumps evol
