The weeks between the study door and the Banquet were the longest of my life.

Not because time moved slowly. Because I had to watch everything with new eyes and keep my face from showing what I saw.

Daisy moved into my quarters three days after I overheard them.

She didn't ask. She walked in while I was at a border negotiation and rearranged everything. When I came back, my ceremonial furs were folded on the chair — her chair now, apparently — and the air smelled wrong. Sweet and sharp, like fruit left too long in the sun.

I stood in the doorway and made myself breathe.

She was at the vanity. My vanity. Brushing her hair with the silver comb that had belonged to my mother. The only thing I had left of her.

"Oh," Daisy said, catching my reflection in the mirror. Her smile was warm. Apologetic. "I hope you don't mind. Jameson said I could use the Luna's quarters while you're... adjusting."

Adjusting. As if I were the one who needed to adapt.

I walked to the desk and opened my journal. I wrote the date. The time. The scent in the air. The comb in her hand. Then I looked up and smiled.

"Of course," I said. "Stay as long as you need."

Her eyes flickered. Just for a second. Like she'd been expecting a fight and didn't know what to do when she didn't get one.

I left. I went to the archives and documented the conversation while it was still fresh. Then I went to the cellar.

---

Buster was in the corner, curled on a pile of old blankets someone had thrown down for him. When he heard my footsteps, his head came up. His tail thumped once against the stone.

I knelt and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I know," I whispered into his fur. "You tried to tell me."

He had growled at Daisy from the first day. Not the playful warning he gave to squirrels or the mailman. A low, steady sound that came from somewhere deep in his chest. The kind of growl that meant *wrong*.

Jameson had called it a behavioral problem. He'd had two Deltas drag Buster down here and lock the door.

I visited every night after that. I brought him food I'd saved from my own plate. I sat on the floor and let him press his warm body against mine, and I talked to him the way I couldn't talk to anyone else.

"It won't be long," I told him. "I'm going to get us out. I just need a little more time."

His tail thumped again. He believed me.

I wished I could believe me too.

---

The ceremonial furs appeared in the main hall four days later.

I was crossing through on my way to the training grounds when I saw her. Daisy, standing near the hearth, wearing the silver-and-white furs that were only supposed to be worn by the seated Luna at formal pack events.

She wasn't at a formal event. She was drinking tea and chatting with two of the younger she-wolves like it was nothing.

I stopped walking.

One of the Gammas — a wolf named Toren who had served under me for two years — saw me freeze. He looked from me to Daisy and back again. His face went carefully blank.

I walked past without saying a word.

In my journal that night, I wrote: *Daisy wore the ceremonial furs in the main hall, 3:00 PM. Witnesses: Toren (Gamma), Lissa and Maren (pack members). No one corrected her. No one looked at me.*

I underlined the last sentence twice.

---

The wolfsbane sample took me a week to obtain.

Petra brought the supplement every morning at 6:15. She was an Omega, sweet-faced and eager to please, and she genuinely believed she was helping me. I could see it in the way she smiled when she handed me the cup.

"The Alpha says this will help," she'd say. "You'll have a pup soon, Luna. I'm sure of it."

I smiled back every time. I drank half the cup in front of her so she wouldn't worry. Then I poured the rest into a vial I kept hidden in my desk drawer.

When I had enough for a full sample, I wrapped it carefully and sent it to a border-pack healer I'd worked with during a supply negotiation two years ago. A wolf who owed me a favor and wouldn't ask questions.

The analysis came back in ten days.

*Trace wolfsbane. Dosage consistent with long-term suppression protocol. Cumulative exposure at this level will result in permanent wolf collapse within 6-8 months.*

I read it three times. Then I folded the paper, placed it in the back of my journal, and wrote the healer's name and contact information on the page before it.

My hands didn't shake. I didn't let them.

---

Daisy's absences were harder to track.

She left pack lands every two weeks, always for a full day, always without explanation. Jameson never questioned it. The pack accepted it.

I started following the supply requisitions instead.

Ironveil's records were meticulous — I had organized them myself. Every purchase, every shipment, every ounce of resources moving in and out of pack territory was logged and cross-referenced.

There were discrepancies. Small ones. Supplies ordered under false categories. Routes that didn't match our legitimate trade partners. A contact in the Ozarks who appeared three times in six months with no corresponding goods received.

I pulled the files. I traced the payments. I found the name of the rogue pack.

Then I found the birth record.

A daughter. Born five years ago. Mother: Daisy Olson. Father: Jameson Baker.

I stared at the page for a long time.

Five years.

He had been with her for five years before he ever met me. The mate bond I thought the Moon Goddess had given us — the bond I had poured everything into — had been a lie from the first day.

I wrote the date in my journal. I underlined it once. Then I closed the book and went to see Buster.

---

The morning after I found the birth record, Daisy cornered me in the hall.

"Amora," she said, her voice soft and concerned. "Are you all right? You seem... distant lately."

I looked at her. At the ceremonial furs draped over her shoulders. At the silver comb tucked into her hair. At the mark on her neck that wasn't cold.

"I'm fine," I said.

She smiled. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here. I know this must be hard for you."

I smiled back. "Thank you, Daisy. That's very kind."

She walked away. I stood in the hall and counted to sixty. Then I went to my quarters and added the conversation to my journal.

Witness: none. Location: east hall, second floor. Time: 9:47 AM.

I was running out of time. I could feel it.

But I wasn't running out of pages.

The healer's examination room had become familiar in a way I didn't like. Too many hours spent on that table. Too many questions I couldn't answer.

"Describe it again," she said.

I pressed my palm flat against my sternum. "Pressure. Like something pushing from the inside. It's not painful. Just... present."

"When did it start?"

"Three days ago. In the morning. I thought it was anxiety at first, but it doesn't fade."

She placed her hand over mine. Her fingers were warm. She closed her eyes and went very still.

After a long moment, she stepped back.

"Your wolf is waking up," she said quietly.

I stared at her. "I thought that would take weeks."

"The suppression is clearing faster than I expected. Your body is... responding aggressively to the detox. As if it's been waiting."

I didn't know what to say to that.

She handed me a small vial. "Keep taking this. Twice daily. And rest. What you're feeling is going to intensify before it stabilizes."

I took the vial. My hand was steady. "How much will it intensify?"

She met my eyes. "I don't know. I've never treated a wolf suppressed for this long who survived."

I nodded once. Then I left.

---

That night, alone in my quarters, it happened.

I was sitting at the desk, reviewing the tribunal procedure notes Dorian had left for me. Buster was asleep on the rug. The room was quiet.

Then the pressure behind my ribs sharpened.

I sucked in a breath and pressed my hand to my chest. It wasn't pain. It was weight. Something immense pressing outward against the cage of my bones, testing the limits.

I stood. The room tilted slightly. I gripped the edge of the desk.

Then I felt it.

Not words. Not a voice. A presence. A vibration that started deep in my chest and spread outward through my blood, my muscles, my skin. Something that had been silent for so long I'd forgotten what it felt like to have it there.

My wolf.

She didn't speak. She pressed. Hard. Against the inside of my ribs, my spine, the base of my skull. Testing. Pushing. Asking how much space there was.

I sat down on the floor. Slowly. My back against the bed frame.

"I'm here," I whispered.

The pressure intensified. Not painful. Just... vast. Larger than anything I remembered. Larger than anything I thought I was supposed to hold.

I closed my eyes and let her press.

She didn't stop. She kept testing the edges, the boundaries, the places where the wolfsbane had carved her down to almost nothing. And everywhere she pressed, I felt heat. Not fever. Something deeper. Something that had been cold for three years and was finally, finally waking up.

I don't know how long I sat there. When I opened my eyes again, Buster was awake, watching me. His tail thumped once against the floor.

"I know," I said. My voice sounded strange. Steadier than it should have been. "I feel it too."

The pressure eased slightly. Not gone. Just... settled. Waiting.

I pulled myself up and went to the mirror.

My eyes looked the same. My face looked the same. But something in the air around me felt different. Heavier. Like the space I occupied had expanded without my body changing at all.

I pressed my thumb against the cold mark on my neck.

Still cold. Still there.

But the thing inside me — the thing pressing against my ribs — was not cold.

I went back to the desk and opened my journal. I wrote the date. The time. The sensation. Then I underlined one sentence twice:

*She is not small.*

---

The meeting with Caelan was scheduled for late afternoon.

I arrived early. Dorian met me at the door and walked me through the hall to Caelan's private study. The space was quieter than the tribunal chamber. Smaller. Books lined the walls. A fire burned low in the hearth.

Caelan was standing near the window when I entered. He turned and gestured to the chair across from his desk.

"Luna Montgomery."

"Amora," I said.

He inclined his head slightly. "Amora."

I sat. He remained standing for a moment, then moved to the desk and opened a folder.

"The tribunal will convene in nine days," he said. "The Council has confirmed attendance from six pack representatives. Alpha Baker has been formally summoned. He cannot refuse without triggering forced removal of his title."

"Good," I said.

Caelan's eyes flicked to mine. "The procedure is straightforward. You will present your evidence first. The Council will question you. Then Alpha Baker will have the opportunity to respond. If he attempts to use Alpha tone on Council grounds, he will be removed immediately."

I nodded. I'd read the procedure notes three times already.

"Your testimony will be under oath," he continued. "The Luna Accord protects you from retaliation, but it does not shield you from cross-examination. Alpha Baker's legal representative will question you directly."

"I understand."

He studied me for a moment. The quality of his stillness shifted. Sharpened.

"Are you physically ready?" he asked.

It wasn't a legal question. I could hear that.

I met his eyes. "Yes."

He held my gaze. Then he nodded once and closed the folder.

"The Council will deliver a verdict within seventy-two hours of the final testimony. If the evidence supports your claim, the penalties will be immediate and permanent."

"What penalties?"

"Forced severance of the Alpha bloodline. Exile. In extreme cases, execution."

I let that settle in my chest. "And Daisy?"

"If she is found complicit in the poisoning, she will face Omega servitude across rotating packs. Indefinite term. Rank irrevocable."

I nodded slowly. "That's sufficient."

Caelan's mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "You don't want execution?"

"I want them to live with what they did," I said. "Death is too quick."

He studied me again. Longer this time. Then he stood.

"If you need anything before the tribunal, Dorian will handle it. You have full access to the archives and the legal library."

"Thank you."

I stood and turned toward the door. As I moved, the pressure behind my ribs surged. Hard. My breath caught.

I stopped walking.

Caelan's voice came from behind me. "Amora?"

I pressed my hand to my chest. The pressure eased slightly. I turned back.

"I'm fine," I said.

He was watching me with that focused stillness again. His nostrils flared slightly.

Then his expression changed.

It was subtle. A flicker in his eyes. A shift in the way he held himself. Like he'd just registered something he hadn't expected.

He didn't say anything. He just looked at me.

I looked back.

The air between us felt heavier than it should have. The cedar-and-rain scent I'd noticed before was stronger now. Closer. Like it was coming from his skin instead of the room.

My wolf pressed hard against my ribs.

I took a step back. "I should go."

Caelan nodded. His voice was measured. Careful. "Of course."

I walked to the door. My hand was on the handle when he spoke again.

"Amora."

I paused. I didn't turn around.

"Your wolf," he said quietly. "She's stronger than you think."

I stood very still.

Then I opened the door and walked out.

The cedar-and-rain scent followed me all the way down the hall.