THE AWAKENING NODES
The forest had not returned to normal.
Even hours after the rift sealed itself, the land felt wrong—too still, too alert, as though every tree, every root, every stone was listening. The wind carried unfamiliar scents: ozone, ancient stone, and something deeper… older than instinct.
Lykos stood at the heart of the clearing where the pack had regrouped. His Alpha aura no longer flared outward in dominance; instead, it settled into the ground itself, stabilizing, anchoring. The wolves felt it instinctively—calming, commanding, immovable.
Aria stood beside him, silver fire tracing faint, living patterns beneath her skin. Since the encounter at the rift, something within her had shifted. Her presence no longer merely soothed or strengthened. It resonated, as if the worl
