The territory did not calm after the fracture.
It tightened.
Aurelia felt it the moment she woke—the way the land seemed to hold itself taut, as though bracing for a strike that had not yet come. The bond beneath her skin mirrored the tension, steady but alert, no longer content to simply observe.
This was no longer a waiting phase.
It was a convergence.
She dressed quickly and stepped outside just as the first patrol returned from the eastern line. Their expressions told her everything before they spoke.
"They've moved," one of them said. "Not closer. Sideways."
Mira emerged from the adjoining corridor, already armed. "Sideways how?"
"Like they're repositioning," the patrol wolf replied. "As if they expect a response from somewhere else."
Aurelia's jaw tightened.
Layers, she thought again.
Echoes.
They weren't surrounding the pack.
They were making room.
"For what?" Mira asked.
The patrol hesitated. "For others."
That landed hard.
