The fracture did not explode.
It spread.
Slow, deliberate, merciless.
Across territories, the bond lattice responded exactly as Valentine intended. Not with chaos, but with exposure. Invisible threads surfaced, glowing faintly beneath skin, across throats, along spines. Wolves everywhere froze as they felt it for the first time.
The truth of their bonds.
Some felt warmth and steadiness, something chosen and mutual.
Others felt weight. Pressure. Fear disguised as devotion.
Those bonds flickered.
Then loosened.
Alphas staggered as authority slipped from instinct into effort. Commands that once carried compulsion now landed as sound alone. Packs did not scatter, but they shifted, eyes lifting, spines straightening.
For the first time, obedience required consent.
In the High Moon Te
