(Kieran POV)
The courtyard felt smaller with my entire pack assembled within its ancient walls. Bodies pressed together in the space where last night's violence had painted abstract patterns in blood and broken stone. Some bore visible wounds from the battle—Marcus still favored his left arm, Elena's shoulder remained heavily bandaged—but they stood straight, proud, united in the way that only shared survival could forge.
This was my family. Every weathered face, every calculating stare, every soul who'd chosen to follow me into whatever darkness leadership demanded. They'd bled for this domain, for each other, for the idea that isolation could become sanctuary if defended with sufficient brutality.
Now they waited for explanations I'd spent three sleepless days avoiding.
The morning a
