Lucian
The silence that followed my question sat over the pack grounds quietly. The kind of silence that had weight and temperature and made people aware of their own breathing.
I waited.
No one spoke.
Around me the circle of wolves stood completely still. Nobody shifted their feet. Nobody exchanged glances. The question had landed in the middle of them and they were all waiting for someone else to be the first one to touch it.
Then Rowan stepped forward.
"They had to, Alpha." His voice was measured and careful. The tone of a man who had already decided how he was going to say this before he said it. "She was out of control. She shifted in the water. Fought back against six patrol wolves simultaneously." He paused. "They had no other option."
I looked at him, he held my gaze steadily.
Then I looked down at her briefly. At the marks across her coat. At the raw scraped paws. At the dried line of blood along her muzzle.
Six patrol wolves.
