Outside the treasury building, light had given way to darkness, yet it seemed as though the night refused to settle after the news. The tiny, quaint streets — usually a place of quiet order — felt hollow in a way that made Derek’s skin tighten, as though the very air had thinned around him.
In fact, a strange, brittle stillness clung to the pack grounds — not the peaceful kind that followed the defeat of a crisis, but the tense, suspended quiet that suggested the world was holding its breath, waiting for the next fracture to split it open. Every instinct he possessed prowled beneath the surface, restless and razor‑edged, refusing to let him breathe properly. The beast inside him clawed for release, and Derek struggled to keep the wolf spirit contained.
Warriors moved around him with tens
