` The courier arrived at dawn.

`

` Perched on clawed feet, the eagle-owl tilted its head, a scroll bound in silver twine clasped in its beak. It did not hoot, only fixed Y/n with a knowing, luminous gaze—the amber eyes of something older than duty.

`

` Behind it, the sky over the mountain compound bled peach and gold.

`

` The pack had been stirring for hours. Paws on stone, low murmurs, the scent of pine smoke. Beyond the fence, the forest pressed close, thick and watchful.

`

`

`