The Great Hall hadn't been used in decades.
Not since the age of the Ancients.
Its obsidian floors gleamed beneath flickering torchlight. Wolves of every region gathered—Alpha Kings, Luna Queens, warlords and priestesses—standing in wary silence. This wasn't just another council. This was a reckoning.
At the far end, beneath the lunar crest carved into the blackstone wall, Athena stood.
Cloaked in deep silver, eyes glowing faintly, she was more than a wolf now. She was the Moon Goddess returned. The one whispered in prophecies and feared in nightmares.
And not everyone liked it.
Athena's gaze swept the room.
To her left stood Cassius, no longer lying broken in a temple bed, but armored and alert. Beside him was Lucas, her quiet shadow, ever watchful. Behind them: her handpicked elite—a forming guard of outcasts, mystics, and battle-wolves no pack claimed. Her loyal few.
But in front of her?
Power. Pride. Challenge.
