"Even the fiercest shadows sometimes need the sound of laughter to remember they are not alone."
BETA JUNO'S POV
The Northern Kingdom at night was quiet in a way that made my wolf restless. Too many stone walls, too much frost clinging to the air, not enough movement. Back home, I would be on patrol or sparring with Riven or even arguing with Elias until dawn. But here? Silence pressed in like an unwanted blanket.
I sat at the edge of my chamber window, boots propped on the sill, watching faint torchlight flicker against the courtyard's cobblestones. It was not boredom keeping me awake. No, it was the faint sense that something was brewing. The kind of sense only Beta got, the thread of tension weaving through pack bonds even in foreign lands.
And then came the knock. Sharp and too sharp, and I arched a brow. "Unless that's Marcus come to challenge me for the last bottle of Northern whiskey, you'd better have a damn good reason."
