The war had never been clean. Not in strategy. Not in purpose. And certainly not in loyalty.
Henry's call to arms had been simple: Stand for your land. Fight for your freedom. And for a time, it had worked.
Nearly half the clans and territories across the scattered regions rose to support him. Wolves, shifters, and old blood tribes that remembered the cost of submission answered his banner, rallying to protect their right to choose, to live without a leash.
Some, fearing annihilation, chose a quieter path. They uprooted their lives and vanished into the deep woods, taking their families far from the heart of conflict.
"Let them tear each other apart," they said. "Let gods and wolves fight their war. We will not be pawns."
And the rest—those who bent the knee to Rhett—did so willingly.
