[ Blackmoon territories : continued from when Kael was being publicly humiliated and punished. ]
They actually didn't need the announcement from the borders.
Because all of them felt him first.
Long before the gates even opened…the air had already shifted around the pack.
The wind stilled. The birds stopped singing. The crowd in the courtyard went unnaturally quiet.
It was like a pulse in the ground…a deep echo of dominance… like even the land knew that the real protector was back.
And then they actually heard the hoof beats.
Just a slow, deliberate thunder, growing louder and louder. Not a gallop. Not a frantic rush.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Like the pulse of the land was back… it was breathing again.
A child on a rooftop looked up first, eyes wide. Then an elder dropped to one knee, trembling.
"It's him…Thank the moon, the Alpha is back…," someone whispered, not even daring to say the name.
The gates groaned open.
