Two weeks after the battle, I sat down with Kael, Theron, Helena, and Martin and laid out what we had.
It was not what we'd had before. Nothing would be what it had been before.
But it was something to work with.
We had three hundred and forty wolves, down from four hundred and eighty-seven.
Some of those would heal and return to full function. Some wouldn't.
We had a structurally intact kingdom, if not untouched.
We had a dead enemy and a scattered army and a window of quiet that we needed to use well.
We had a son in the Black Realm who was being changed by something we didn't yet understand.
We had six weeks left on the original two-month timeline.
"The Crimson Moon Pack," Theron said. "They've been quiet during all of this. Too quiet. Seraphine might have been holding their
