O

was bigger than it l

lined up in formation across the packed dirt, it felt different. The space pressed back. Old ground. The kind that had absorbed eno

forward, sixty wolves reading the same room the same way – th

ce flat and her breathing even and

ith close-cropped grey at his temples and the unhurried walk of someone who'd never once needed to prove anything

t nee

e. First words anyone had said since the assembly formed. "Head

lready dec

his hands beh

of you have been feeling it since you got here and trying to pretend you haven't." He looked down the line without pausing on

ved. Nobo

wins, you advance up the rank board. Three consecutive loss

lves all running the same calculation at once. Who they'd pick. Who'd pi

he math before he fi

ped up to the battleground

going

for two

olling his neck, and looked sideways at Nova with that same

that it didn't carry to Drax. "Need som

epped f

d. Loud. Clear. To

. Looked at Bren.

of your oppo

t Bren and s

hat grin is going wide

************************

st someone who hadn't spent twenty-two years being trained by a woman w

left and let him carry himself forward and put her elbow into the back of his shoulder as he went past, and he went dow

three seconds. S

read it two steps out, stepped over the grab, got his arm at the wr

down for

got up

most f

. Clean takedown, no damage, nothing personal.

jaw tight, not saying a single word. Whatever he'

" Drax

someone who didn't telegraph anything. He looked at Nova once, and his skin started shifting at

fore the shi

s balance was split between two forms and belonged to neither, and took

ly human again. Looked

could feel it, the quality of the silence changing. She didn't seem entertaining

said behind her. "One m

?" Another voice. "He's

d to face

arms crossed, not quite in formation, not quite out of it. His eyes were already on her.

at him for

turned

oud enough to carry across the who

quiet she could hear the w

Rhen made a sound that

at her for a

looked a