Father dips his chin. “We’ll wait.”
A beat. Then Marnie clears her throat. “The girl fought well. First shift like that? It was rare.”
“She didn’t just fight,” Calder says, voice low. “She owned the ring.”
Lydia tilts her head slightly. A lean wolf with silver-streaked hair and an expression carved from stone, Lydia serves as the council’s historian and lorekeeper, guardian of bloodlines and tradition. Her voice is always calm, but tonight it cuts colder than usual. “And yet she knew nothing of her heritage until five days ago. That kind of power, untrained, is unstable. It’s a risk.”
I step forward, jaw tight. “She’s not a risk.”
My father’s eyes flick toward me. Not a reprimand. A reminder.
Lydia doesn’t flinch. “We’ve seen bloodlines extinguished before. Some vanish. Others are taken. But this,” she glances around the room, “is something else entirely. A half-human girl, daughter of thelast Luna to disappear without a trace, walks into our territory and shifts her first night in the ring? In front of everyone?”
“It wasn’t for show,” I snap. “It was instinct. She was trying to survive.”
The door opens behind me.
Every head turns.
My wolf stirs.
Maya steps into the room like she was born to it. Black pants, fitted jacket, braid down her spine. Quiet strength. She’s still learning what this world expects of her, but she doesn’t flinch.
She feels the weight of their eyes, I can tell. But she moves forward anyway.
She stops beside me. Doesn’t reach for my hand. Doesn’t need to. She just stands steady, and that’s enough.
Father addresses her directly.
“Maya Ortiz.”
“Yes, sir,” she says. Voice level. Every syllable grounded.
Behind her, another shadow slips in. Elena.
The missing Luna of the Silver Creek Pack. A ghost come to life.
The council stiffens.
“Elena,” Father says softly. “It’s been a long time.”
Her mouth twitches. Not quite a smile. “Not long enough, I imagine.”
No one meets her eyes. Not yet.
“We never understood why you left,” Father says.
“I didn’t leave,” she replies. “I ran.”
“For your sake?”
“For my daughter’s.”
Something in my chest clenches. Maya stands taller.
Father nods. Turns his full attention back to Maya.
“Maya,” he says, voice even, deliberate. “Do you know what this council is considering tonight?”
