The following days passed in a strange, exhausted blur. Vane, defeated and bound by the terms of formal combat, was escorted back to his own territory under Coldridge guard, stripped of the authority he'd wielded so ruthlessly only nights before. Selena remained behind, her betrayal of her father formally recognized by both packs as an act that had likely prevented far greater bloodshed, and though her future within Vane's pack remained uncertain, Grayson had already begun quiet negotiations to secure her a place within Coldridge territory instead, should she choose it.
Richard submitted to the binding ritual exactly as promised, and the truth confirmed what he'd claimed in the boathouse guilty of funding the original threats meant to expose Grayson's old corruption, but entirely innocent
