The honesty hit harder than I expected.
"Then why aren't you stopping me?"
His voice dropped.
"Because if I stop you, you'll wonder if you made the wrong choice."
The pull inside me tightened.
He wasn't fighting me.
He was trusting me.
And somehow that made this worse.
"If he's manipulating this," Fenris continued quietly, "you'll see it."
"And if he's not?"
"Then you'll stabilize things."
"You're calm," I said.
"I'm not calm."
His jaw flexed.
"I'm choosing not to drag you into a war tonight."
My chest tightened.
"You think this ends in war?"
"I think Rowan is buying time."
"For what?"
His eyes flicked to my chest.
"To figure out what you are before it's too late."
The words settled heavy.
Before it's too late.
Too late for what?
For him?
For Silverhide?
For me?
The rogues began murmuring.
Fenris stepped back half a pace.
Giving me space.
Choice.
I looked toward the tree line where Rowan had disappeared.
He would still be there.
Waiting.
He knew I would hesitate.
He knew which parts of me to press.
I hated that he was right.
"If Northbound uses instability as justification," I said slowly, "and Silverhide fractures internally…"
"It won't be because of you," Fenris said.
"But they'll say it is."
And that was the truth.
They would say the unshifted girl returned and the earth cracked.
They would say I was volatile.
Dangerous.
A curse.
I had lived that narrative once already.
I didn't want it repeated.
"I'll go back," I said quietly.
The clearing stilled.
Even the wind seemed to pause.
Fenris didn't react immediately.
Then he nodded once.
"Temporary," he said.
"Yes."
"If he lies to you—"
"I'll know."
"If he cages you—"
"I won't stay."
His gaze searched mine.
Making sure.
"You won't go alone," he added.
I frowned slightly.
"You can't cross into pack territory."
"I won't cross openly."
Of course he wouldn't.
A rogue never stopped being a rogue.
Even when he stood like an Alpha.
The ground pulsed faintly beneath my feet again.
Fenris felt it.
"So does Rowan," he murmured.
"Yes."
"And that's why he's afraid."
I swallowed.
"Are you?"
A long pause.
"Yes."
Honest again.
"But not of you."
That mattered.
More than it should have.
The rogues began to disperse slowly.
Tension easing.
But not gone.
I stepped closer to Fenris.
Not touching.
Close enough that I could feel his breath.
"If this is a mistake," I whispered.
"It's yours to make," he replied.
The corner of my mouth twitched faintly.
"You really don't like control, do you?"
"No."
"Even when it would benefit you?"
"Especially then."
Another howl split the night.
This one unmistakable.
Rowan is calling.
He knew.
I turned toward the forest.
My chest felt tight.
"I'll send word," I said.
Fenris shook his head slightly.
"I'll know."
"How?"
His gaze darkened.
"I'll feel it."
The pull inside me answered that.
I stepped back.
Then hesitated.
Then stepped forward again.
And this time, I did touch him.
Just briefly.
My fingers against his wrist.
Mirroring what he had done earlier.
His breath hitched almost imperceptibly.
"Don't do anything reckless," I said softly.
He almost smiled.
"No promises."
I turned before I could second-guess myself.
Before instinct overruled reason.
Before whatever line Rowan warned about blurred completely.
The forest swallowed me as I crossed back toward Silverhide territory.
Halfway through the trees—
I felt it.
Fenris hadn't moved.
He was still standing there.
Watching.
He didn't try stopping me or claiming me.
He was trusting me.
The boundary line came into view.
Rowan stepped from the shadows as I approached.
He didn't look surprised.
"I knew you would think beyond yourself," he said quietly.
I held his gaze.
"This is temporary."
"Of course."
I stepped past him.
Back into the pack that had cast me out.
And as the earth trembled faintly beneath my returning steps—
I couldn't tell if I had just protected them…
Or walked straight into a cage.
Walking back into Silverhide felt like stepping into a memory that had decided it didn't want me anymore.
The same trees.
The same stone paths.
The same pack scent hanging in the air.
And yet every step felt… wrong.
Wolves watched from the edges of the clearing as Rowan led me through the pack grounds.
None of them approached or greeted me.
They just stared.
Some looked curious.
Some cautious.
And some openly suspicious.
Apparently exile reversal didn't erase my reputation.
Rowan walked half a step ahead of me, calm and composed, like bringing back a previously banished wolf was something he did every Tuesday.
"Relax," he said quietly without looking back.
"I am relaxed."
"You look like you're going to escape any minute."
I blinked.
"…I might."
That earned the faintest exhale from him that might have been a laugh.
Progress.
The council den came into view, but Rowan didn't stop there. Instead, he veered toward a smaller cabin at the edge of the inner territory.
"My old quarters?" I asked.
"Temporary housing," Rowan corrected.
"That's not reassuring."
"You're not a prisoner, Lyra."
"Good," I said dryly. "Because prisoners usually get fewer guards."
His mouth tightened slightly.
Yes.
There were guards.
Not obvious ones.
But obvious enough.
Rowan stopped at the cabin door.
"You'll stay here tonight."
"And tomorrow?"
"We talk."
"You mean you explain."
"Yes."
I studied him.
Rowan looked tired.
Like a man trying to hold ten collapsing pieces together at once.
"Northbound," I said.
His expression hardened.
"Tomorrow."
He opened the door.
"Get some rest."
"I doubt I'll fall asleep."
"Try anyway."
Then he turned and walked away.
Just like that.
The cabin smelled like dust and pine.
And memories.
Too many of them.
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.
The cabin fell quiet.
The kind of quiet that makes your mind start filling the silence with questions you don't want to answer.
Like why Rowan had looked relieved when I returned.
Or why Fenris had looked like he expected me to leave.
Or why the pull under my ribs was still there.
I rubbed the center of my chest.
"Can you not?" I muttered to my own body.
It ignored me.
Rude.
I moved toward the small window facing the forest.
Silverhide's inner territory stretched beyond it.
Patrol routes.
Training grounds.
The place where I'd spent most of my childhood trying not to look like a failure.
"You're back," a voice said from outside.
I stiffened.
Then relaxed.
"Still dramatic, Kael?"
The door opened a crack and Kael slipped inside.
Tall.
Annoyingly smug.
And one of the few pack members who hadn't treated me like a contagious disease growing up.
He leaned against the wall casually.
"You're supposed to be exiled."
"I noticed."
"And yet here you are."
"Also noticed."
He crossed his arms.
"You brought chaos with you."
"That's rude."
"The ground literally cracked."
"That part was unintentional."
Kael studied me.
Then sighed.
"You look the same."
"That's disappointing. I was hoping exile would make me mysteriously beautiful."
"You did get mysterious," he said.
"Oh good."
"Just not the beauty part."
I threw a pillow at him.
He caught it.
Unfortunately.
"Rowan told everyone you'd return
temporarily," he continued.
"That's generous of him."
"He also doubled patrols."
"Even more generous."
Kael tilted his head slightly.
"What happened out there?"
"Define 'happened.'"
"You went from unshifted exile to making the ground react."
I hesitated.
"Let's call it… a bad day."
"That bad?"
"Cracked-earth bad."
He whistled softly.
"Well. That's new."
Silence settled between us for a moment.
Then Kael's voice dropped.
"You trust Rowan?"
That question landed heavier than expected.
"I trust that he believes he's protecting something."
"That's not the same thing."
"No," I said quietly. "It isn't."
Kael pushed off the wall.
"Just don't let him decide everything for you."
"I don't plan to."
He moved toward the door.
Then paused.
"Oh," he added casually, "and if you're planning to sneak out later…"
I froze.
"…try the west trail."
I stared at him.
"You assume a lot."
"You always hated being contained."
"That's not a crime."
"In Silverhide?" he said dryly.
"Sometimes it is."
He grinned.
Then slipped out.
Leaving me alone again.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the door.
Then my gaze drifted back to the dark forest beyond the window.
Somewhere out there—
Fenris was still waiting.