Korren listened without interrupting.
The scout knelt in the center of the lodge, shoulders hunched, breath uneven, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Blood stained the hem of his trousers—his own this time—and the smell of fear clung to him more strongly than the cold ever could.
Korren preferred it that way.
Fear made wolves honest.
“You saw them,” Korren said at last, his voice calm, measured. “Start again.”
The scout swallowed hard. “It was supposed to be simple, Alpha. Observation. Opportunity. We weren’t meant to engage unless—”
“Unless,” Korren repeated.
“Unless the twins were isolated.”
Korren nodded once. “And they were.”
“Yes,” the scout said quickly. “They left the packhouse. Inner territory. Only the human with them.”
Korren’s fingers tightened slowly against the arm of
