“I think your other pack…” Henry let out a big sigh. “I think they need to stop thinking of themselves asother, and I think we do too.” He shifted his weight, fidgeting, then forced himself to meet my eyes. “I train with both sides. Blueridge Hollow shifters mutter that I’m a traitor. Stonefang thinks I’m soft. But I don’t care which pack I was born in. I just want a future where I don’t have to pick between them.”
I studied him for a long moment. No bravado. No fear. Just stubborn, quiet honesty.
“It takes longer than a few weeks to build a pack,” I said. “If you think it doesn’t?—”
“I don’t,” he said quickly. “But I see you trying. I see the new shifters coming in, or going out, and I don’t think you know that noteveryonehere is thinking you’re keeping us divided.”
Silence settled for a moment between us. “Walk with me,” I said, pushing off the post. He blinked again, surprised, then fell into step beside me. “You ever see wolves in nature tear each other apart over nothing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
“That’s what happens when you let old grudges and prejudice run a pack.” He didn’t answer. Just looked forward, thoughtful. “I need more shifters like you, Henry,” I said after a moment. “Wolves who aren’t loyal to bloodlines. Who are loyal to the pack. Think you can handle that?”
“Handle what?” His throat bobbed when he saw my look, and he nodded as he swallowed. “Yes, Alpha.”
“And do you have friends, Henry, ones who think like you? Who want to train with both the Hollow and Stonefang?”
He looked excited as he spoke. “I do! There are more of us than you think, Alpha sir.”
“Good,” I said, feeling Axel move in behind us. “Because if this goes the way I think it might, I’ll need every one of you to hold the line when the others run or sit on their ass and do nothing.”
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t run. Just nodded again. I looked behind me at Axel.
“Brand has him on patrol?” I asked, fighting the smile as Henry jumped at the fact that Axel was so close to us. “That won’t work, he’s not ready.” I cut off Henry’s protest with one look. “Henry, go with Axel, introduce him to your friends who want to learn and aren’t scared who they are standing in line beside. And I told you before, don’t call me sir.”
Axel gave me a look, and I knew what he was asking. “No patrols, I want you to spend three hours with them every morning,” I told him.
“You in the afternoon?” Axel confirmed.
“Yeah,” I said as I smiled at Henry. “That okay?” I asked the young male.
He looked between us both. “Like bootcamp?”
Axel chuckled. “Yeah, exactly like bootcamp, only alpha style.”
“Lewis used to train us, but he doesn’t anymore.”
“Yeah?” Axel asked as they walked away. “Alpha style is different.”
Not Stonefang style. Not Hollow style. Alpha style. I watched them walk away together, Henry asking all his questions and Axel patiently answering them all.
And for the first time in days, I felt something in my chest loosen that wasn’t about attacks or Rowen. It was aboutpack.
Maybe the future didn’t have to be built on the bones of the past. Maybe it could be built on shifters like Henry.
Chapter 16
Wolfe
I smelledthe blood before I saw it.
Not rogue blood.
Ours.
I hit the edge of the ridge trail fast—Brand and Axel already crouched over the body.
The young male on the ground was barely more than a boy—Perry, I realized. Twenty, twenty-one maybe. Good instincts. Better heart. His leg was torn open down to the bone, and claw marks scored his ribs deep enough to stain the earth beneath him. His eyes fluttered. Breath rattled. Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth.
