“Thank you,” he said quietly.
Rafe nodded once.
Around us, the pack was regrouping. Evan directing the wounded toward those who could help, Nate using his druid magic to ease pain and speed healing. The moon still hung overhead, silver and watchful.
Rafe appeared at Daniel's shoulder. “We need to move. Those weren't random rogues. Someone sent them. Coordinated.”
“I know.” Daniel's jaw tightened. “Get everyone back to the pack house. I want a full defensive perimeter by dawn.”
“On it.” Rafe's hand brushed Daniel's arm, brief and grounding, and something flickered in his eyes as they met mine. Something I couldn't name.
Then he was moving, helping organize the retreat, and I watched him go with that nagging feeling growing stronger.
Daniel helped me to my feet, kept his arm around me as we made our way back toward the gathering point. The forest felt different now. Darker. More aware. Like it was waiting to see what would happen next.
“You fought well,” Daniel said quietly. “Took down two of them yourself before...”
“Before I got careless.”
“Before you got overwhelmed.” His arm tightened around my waist. “You're not trained for this, Michael. You're human. And you held your own against things that have killed wolves with decades more experience.”
“Doesn't feel like holding my own.”
“It never does.” He pressed a kiss to my temple, brief and fierce. “But you're alive. That's what matters. Everything else, we figure out together.”
I looked at him. At this man who'd fought beside me, bled for me, held me like I was something worth holding. At the worry in his eyes and the determination underneath it.
“Together,” I agreed.
The moon tracked overhead, silver and patient. And somewhere in the darkness, I felt something watching. Waiting.
But I wasn't alone. And that made all the difference.
15
DANGEROUSLY FALLING
DANIEL
The whispers started small.
I felt them more than heard them. That particular shift in pack dynamics when wolves stopped talking the moment I entered a room, when conversations died mid-sentence and eyes went carefully neutral. Not hostile. Just concerned. The way pack worried about their Alpha when they thought he might be making a mistake.
Luke was the first to say it out loud.
We were in the war room going over patrol reports when he set down his coffee and fixed me with that level stare that said this wasn't going to be a comfortable conversation. The bruise along his jaw had faded to yellow-green, almost healed now, but I could still see the stiffness in how he moved. The pack run attack had left marks on all of us.
“The pack's worried,” he said without preamble.
“About Rafe.”
“About the speed of it.” Luke's voice was careful. Respectful. But firm. “I'm not questioning your authority, Daniel. I'm bringing you what the pack's too nervous to say themselves.”
I set down my own coffee. My ribs protested the movement, still tender from where a rogue had caught me during the ambush. Wolf healing was a blessing, but even we needed time. Gideon had been running himself ragged the past few days, moving from wolf to wolf, using his magic to speed along what our bodies couldn't handle fast enough on their own.
“Who's talking?”
“Maren. Alaric. A few of the seniors.” He held up a hand before I could respond. “They're not challenging you. They're worried. And honestly? Half of them are still too banged up to challenge anyone right now.”
