Chapter 16: Coronation and Vow

The weeks following our first argument became a period of intentional, sometimes clumsy, but always heartfelt, construction. We were building a new foundation, not on the ruins of our past, but on the cleared ground of hard-won truth and mutual respect. Silver kept his promise. He began to teach me, not as a child, but as a partner. Evenings were spent by the fireplace, with him explaining pack laws, the significance of lunar cycles on wolf biology, the complex hierarchy, and the responsibilities...