When the statue fell, time seemed to stop.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Even the warriors the seasoned enforcers of the pack who had seen death and carnage before stood frozen in disbelief. The shattered remains of stone and bone lay scattered before us, a silent horror against the snow.
One of the pack's trackers, the same one who had been assigned to drill into the statue earlier, stumbled back. His scent reeked of fear. "Alpha Harris," he stammered, voice shaking, "I followed protocol. I swear I did. This wasn't supposed to happen."
Harris, the pack's Head Enforcer, didn't answer right away. His jaw tightened, his gaze flicking toward Julian, who was still on his knees in the snow, trembling like a wolf stripped of his strength.
