The clearing felt different now.
Not just shaken—
shifted.
The stabilized Devourer-born huddled together near the firelit edge of the forest.
Bodies still trembling, eyes still flickering, unsure where to stand…
but one thing was painfully clear:
They kept looking at Kanah.
Every few seconds.
Every small sound.
Every breath of wind.
Owain noticed first.
"Kana," he murmured, stepping close.
"They're imprinting on you."
Kanah blinked.
"Imprinting?"
Gerrin adjusted his satchel, coming to her side.
"Devourer-born don't choose alphas.
They choose stability."
Yllas added, quiet and thoughtful:
"And you are the first thing that's ever soothed them."
Helion nudged Kanah with an elbow.
"So… congratulations? You're a mom now?"
Owain glared at him so viciously Helion nearly tripped over his own feet.
"Not. Funny."
Helion raised his hands.
"I didn't mean— They're not babies, Owain. I meant—"
Owain stepped forward, claws half-shifted.
"I don't care what you meant. Don't joke about what she carries."
Kanah touched Owain's arm gently.
"Owain… it's okay."
He growled low, chest still vibrating, instincts still spiking.
Gerrin cleared his throat delicately.
"They're drawn to Kanah's resonance.
It's normal for them to follow her movements now."
Kanah's voice softened.
"They trust me?"
Rhaegor, the wolf alpha, stepped closer.
"No."
He corrected himself.
"Not trust. Instinct."
Vaeryn crossed his arms.
"They see you as the first stable resonance they have ever known."
Kanah's stomach twisted.
"So they're attached because they were hurting."
Gerrin nodded.
"And because you soothed them. Devourer instinct is simple:
Pain binds.
Comfort bonds."
Owain exhaled sharply.
"That makes them pack."
Kanah's eyes widened.
"But they're not wolves—"
"No," Owain murmured.
"But you are mine."
Kanah swallowed.
"And they're…?"
Owain took her hand and guided it toward the nearest Devourer-born—
the young male she had saved first.
He lifted his head.
His eyes—once hollow—glowed faint gold.
He leaned into her hand.
Gently.
Like a frightened animal discovering warmth for the first time.
Owain's voice lowered.
"They are your responsibility now.
Your instinct-family.
Your… pack."
"And if they're hers," Helion chimed in, "they're ours."
The Eldress approached with a smirk.
"Not just yours, leopard.
This makes them a Beast Tribunal concern."
Kanah looked up, startled.
"What does that mean?"
Vaeryn answered first.
"It means your influence affects more than your mates."
Rhaegor continued:
"The Devourer-born you stabilized have no hierarchy—"
Lythar finished quietly:
"—so they will follow whoever Kanah follows."
Owain froze.
"So you mean—"
Gerrin's eyes widened.
"Yes.
They will follow the Wolf King."
Owain stiffened so violently the air cracked around him.
Kanah grabbed his arm.
"Owain—?"
He stared at the Devourer-born.
At their trembling bodies.
Their quiet breaths.
Their raw, unformed instinct.
And then—
he stepped forward.
Slow.
Controlled.
The Devourer-born reacted instantly.
They lowered their heads.
They exposed their throats.
They pressed their palms to the earth in submission.
Kanah gasped.
"They're… yielding to you."
Owain's golden eyes burned.
"I'm their alpha."
Helion muttered, awestruck:
"Oh. That's… that's HUGE."
Yllas inhaled slowly.
"Owain has never commanded Devourer-born before.
No beast has."
Lythar nodded.
"This changes everything."
Kanah took a shaky breath.
"So what happens now?"
Owain looked at her.
Not at the Devourer-born.
Not at the tribes.
Just at her.
"You saved their bodies."
He touched her cheek.
"I'll protect their lives."
Kanah's throat tightened.
"Owain…"
His voice softened.
"You did something beautiful.
Let me do the rest."
Kanah leaned into his palm.
"Okay."
Owain turned to the Devourer-born and spoke with the voice of a king:
"You are safe now.
No one touches you.
No one commands you.
No one breaks you."
The creatures trembled.
Some cried.
One collapsed in relief.
Kanah's chest ached.
Owain continued:
"You follow Kanah.
You follow me.
And no Devourer will claim you again."
Every beast tribe in the clearing felt the shift—
a new power,
a new allegiance,
a new kind of pack forming.
A human-led, wolf-anchored, resonance-bonded pack.
Gerrin whispered:
"You've created something unheard of."
Yllas smiled softly.
"Something impossible."
Helion grinned wide.
"And something really, really fun."
Kanah wasn't smiling.
She was crying—
but quietly,
softly,
in that trembling way where the heart is too full.
Owain stepped back to her side.
She whispered:
"They were never meant to be weapons."
Owain cupped her jaw gently.
"No," he said.
"They were waiting for their queen."
Kanah froze.
"Owain…"
He kissed her forehead.
"You don't have to rule a kingdom.
Just… be who you already are."
A scream tore through the forest again—
this time sharper, angrier, filled with hate.
Her father.
Not her brother.
This one shook the trees.
Kanah's newly formed pack pressed into her legs, shaking.
Owain snarled, stepping in front of her.
Yllas's flames flared.
Helion's claws slid out.
Gerrin's hands glowed.
The guardian beast roared.
The tribes raised weapons.
Kanah took a single breath—
steady
warm
anchored.
"I think," she whispered,
"my father just realized he's losing."