Elara's premonitions grew more vivid. The "non-wolf shifters" aiding Mara were not just random allies; they seemed to be part of a single, organized group. Her visions sharpened, revealing a particular species: serpent shifters. They moved with a chilling, fluid grace, their scales gleaming, their minds cold and calculating, unlike the primal rage of the wolves. Their leader, a formidable female named Vipera, was a master of stealth and poison, both literally and figuratively.
Vipera had her own long-standing grievances against the established wolf packs, seeing them as arrogant and dominant, always claiming the best territories. She was using Mara's desperate need for allies as an opportunity to weaken the wolf hierarchy, believing it would open the door for her own kind to rise. Elara realized that Vipera was far more cunning than Mara, a silent, deadly force working in the shadows, leveraging Mara's raw power for her own strategic ends. The alliance faced not just a rogue pack, but a new and dangerous species of shifter, adding another venomous coil to the already complex tapestry of conflict.