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“It’s not coffee. Coffee is brown water that tastes like someone burned a sock. This is...”

“This is what coffee is supposed to taste like.” He leans against the counter, arms crossed, and the satisfaction radiating off him is so thick I can almost see it. “Welcome to civilization.”

Darian takes a sip. Goes still. Takes another sip. “I’m going to need you to leave that thermos.”

“It’s yours. Consider it a housewarming gift. Along with the house.”

The kitchen goes quiet. The kind of quiet where you can hear the refrigerator humming.

“The house?” I say.

“The house.” Luna Selena wipes powdered sugar off her fingers. “It’s yours. Fully furnished, utilities included, no strings. We’ve had it sitting empty for about fifteen years. It belonged to the previous Gamma’s family, my parents, before they died. Four bedrooms, two baths, fenced yard, the school’s four blocks that way.” She points with a strawberry. “The hospital’s two blocks the other way. There’s a playground at the end of the street that Darlene is going to lose her mind over.”

I open my mouth. Close it. Open it again.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Alpha Rylan says. “It’s not a negotiation. It’s a fact. The house is yours.”

“Luna Selena... we can’t...”

“Arlene. You can.” She says my name like it’s final.

I look at Darian. He looks at me. Something passes between us. Not through the bond, not through words, just the quiet, wordless communication of two people who have learned to read each other’s silences the way other people read books.

“Thank you,” I say. Both of them. “Both of you. This is... thank you.”

Luna Selena waves it off like I’ve thanked her for holding a door. “Don’t. Really. There’s something else we need to talk about before we take you anywhere today.”

She sets her coffee down. Alpha Rylan pushes off the counter and comes to stand behind her chair, one hand resting on her shoulder.

“The pack induction,” he says. “There’s a formal ceremony. We’ll do that properly, full moon, the whole thing. But before you set foot anywhere in Silver Moon territory, we need to get the pack scent on you. All of you, including the pups.”

Damian and Darlene look confused. Darian and I look at each other and nod.

The Pack House rises before us like something carved from the mountain itself. I stop walking. Darian stops beside me. Neither of us speaks for a long moment.

“It’s...” Darian starts.

“Yeah,” I finish.

Ten stories of stone and timber, with windows that catch the morning light and throw it back in warm amber squares across the grounds. The entrance is flanked by two massive oak doors, actual oak, not the plywood and paint facsimiles I’ve grown accustomed to, and the path leading to it is paved with smooth river stones that click softly beneath our shoes.

“That’s not a house,” Darian mutters. “That’s a fortress disguised as a house.”

“Welcome to the Pack House,” Luna Selena says, grinning over her shoulder. She’s got Darlene perched on her hip, the upside down ponytail still swinging with each step. “Built by the first Silver Moon Alpha in 1872 BC, as far as we know. Expanded twice since then. Floors seven through nine are for the Beta family, Gamma family, and Delta family. The sixth floor is mostly administrative. Offices, meeting rooms, the war room. Floors three through five are residential. Floor two is for important guests. The top floor is ours. Key cards and fingerprints give authorization.”

“Are we taking the stairs to the tenth floor?” Darlene asks.

Alpha Rylan’s hand finds the small of Luna Selena’s back. “We’ll take the elevator.”

“The what?” Damian asks, his small hand tight in mine.

“You’ll see, little man.”

We reach the doors, and they open before Alpha Rylan’s hand touches them. Two warriors I don’t recognize step aside, their heads dipping in perfect unison.

“Alpha. Luna.”

“Morning,” Alpha Rylan says. “This is the Carter family. They’ll be joining us today.”