The eastern road lay beneath a pale morning sky, its wet stones shining faintly beneath the departing mist, and Serena Voss stood at the edge of the Wolfguard grounds with her arms folded tightly across her chest while Alessandro watched her from several paces away, neither willing to make the first movement toward the other. Between them waited Gabriel Moretti and Elena Kovac, along with a dozen warriors who had been summoned before sunrise, yet the silence belonged chiefly to the two Alphas whose choices had begun to divide the Pack.
"You're leaving my side," Alessandro said at last, his voice quiet enough that it carried no command, though everyone present understood the restraint behind it.
Serena lifted her chin and held his gaze without blinking, her expression composed despite the tension visible in the fingers curled against her sleeves. "I'm choosing the Pack, Alessandro, and I will not pretend loyalty means standing beside a leader merely because I once believed in him."
