Thorne's POV
They whispered her name like a prayer.
I heard it before I saw her. The courtyard thick with torch smoke, wolves packed shoulder to shoulder, eyes raised high.
Moonblood. Aisla. Luna. The words rolled against stone walls like waves, growing louder with every heartbeat.
And I, Alpha of this pack, sat on the hall's high steps, jaw clenched tightly from pain.
She had returned.
She had dared to return.
When the warriors limped through the gates, her shadow behind them, the pack bowed their heads as if the Goddess herself walked among them. My wolves,my wolves,lowered their eyes not to me, but her.
My wolf howled but I kept it hidden. Not yet.
I rose slowly, squared my shoulders, and stepped forward. My voice cut through the whispers sharp as a whip.
"You see her here," I said. "Do you think this is chance? Do you think the Moonblood wanders at random?"
The crowd went silent.
