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“Has Trevor done all three?”

“Not the social media post.”

I chuckled. “Yet.”

“Correct.”

“And what happens to them?”

“Fines, restrictions, heavy supervision, community labor, loss of access to shared running land. It depends on the danger created.”

Her spoon moved to the mustached wolf. “Malicious exposure is different. That means threatening to reveal shifters for profit, revenge, political leverage, or attention. Councils intervene immediately.”

“How?”

Patty paused, the humor in her eyes fading just enough to tell me it was bad.

“They remove access to vulnerable communities. Sometimes that means relocation. Sometimes confinement. In serious cases, exile.”

“Exile from the pack?”

“From organized shifter society.”

I lowered the cheese puff I had been about to eat. “What happens to them then?”

“They become lone wolves.”

The phrase sounded familiar.

“Lone wolves aren’t automatically dangerous,” Patty continued. “Some people leave pack systems voluntarily. Some travel. Some prefer solitude. The problem is when someone is expelled and still refuses oversight.”

“What does oversight involve?”

“Registration with the regional council. Periodic check-ins. Proof they have secure housing and access to private land for shifts. Agreement to avoid humans who might notice patterns.”

“And if they refuse?”

“Council agents track them.”

My eyes widened. “So there are wolf police.”

She laughed. “They’re compliance officers.”

“Wolf police with administrative duties.”

She clicked again. The new slide showed a wolf and bear standing on opposite sides of a picnic table. “Now we address inter-shifter relations.”

“Are the bears enemies?”

“No. Mostly. Wolves and bear shifters have a frosty relationship, but not an openly hostile one. We cooperate when secrecy is involved, share certain medical resources. Occasionally, we handle territory disputes through council channels rather than violence.”

I frowned as I popped a cheese puff into my mouth. “Why don’t you always get along?”

“Culture.”

“That explains nothing.”

“It explains almost everything.” She moved to the next slide, which divided the screen into two columns.