Chapter 431: When Worry Becomes a Crowd I

Some Minutes Before

Lysander’s eyes widened.

For a heartbeat, the words did not register properly.

"...Sophia?" he repeated.

Miles nodded slowly, his face still pale from exhaustion and dried blood. "She’s with Alpha Orion. They went to find Ronan."

Lysander frowned. It seemed there was a lot he had missed in just a short time. He turned to Caspian and Daniel.

"...You knew?" he asked quietly.

Daniel hesitated only a fraction of a second before nodding.

"We’ve had some time," he said carefully, "to talk with Miles and Genevieve. We were waiting for you to tell us whether the boy would survive first."

Caspian inclined his head in agreement.

Lysander let out a slow breath through his nose.

Daniel shifted slightly—and only then did Lysander notice what he was holding.

It was a small pouch, but he knew the scent.

His eyes lifted slowly to Daniel’s face.

"Where did you get that pouch?" Lysander asked quietly.

Daniel did not answer right away.

"We have a lot to discuss," Caspian said calmly. "But not here. Would you be able to take some time away from lovely Raina and attend the meeting?"

"I can watch over her for you and Brynhild," Marta offered.

"I wouldn’t want to impose," Lysander told her.

Marta rolled her eyes. "You know how much I love children. You wouldn’t be imposing."

Lysander stared at her, then nodded. "I’ll let Brynhild know."

"There’s much you missed, Lysander. And we will talk about everything in the hall, including the pouch," Daniel told him.

He nodded once.

"...Very well."

They turned together and made for the exit.

The moment they stepped out of the medical facility and into the wider compound—

They were surrounded.

It happened so suddenly that Lysander barely had time to register the shift in air.

Voices.

Footsteps.

Rushed movement.

Anxious murmurs that sharpened the moment they spotted the elders.

Parents.

Siblings.

Family members.

Those whose family members had not yet returned from the test.

They closed in instinctively and desperately.

A short woman pushed her way to the front.

Half of her face was burned, the scar tissue pulling slightly at her lips and cheek, making her expressions sharp and uneven. A scar she sustained before the pack settled in Nirvana, but she did not let it deter her.

Her eyes were unmistakably fierce.

"Elder Daniel."

Her voice cracked on the first syllable.

"Why isn’t my Joren back yet?" Stacy, Joren’s mother, asked.

Daniel stopped.

So did Caspian and Lysander. Marta had not yet left the facility.

Stacy stepped closer.

"All the other trainees are back," she said, her voice growing tighter. "So why isn’t my son?"

Before Daniel could answer, another woman pushed forward.

She wore yellow beads strung across her neck, layered in loose coils that rested against her chest.

Matching yellow-feathered earrings trembled softly with every movement of her head.

Her face was drawn tight with worry.

"Even Uther isn’t back yet," she said.

Her voice was strained.

"My brother isn’t back yet, and I’m worried. We asked Garron, but even he doesn’t know why the others are still not back."

She looked directly at Daniel.

"Why are they not back?"

More voices rose behind them.

A shorter woman wrung her hands together nervously, twisting the hem of her sleeves.

She was never nervous. But now she could barely keep her hands still.

"My baby boy isn’t back either," she said, her voice shaking despite her effort to keep it steady. "Is the test more serious than you told us?"

Her eyes flicked between Daniel and Caspian.

"...Are you lying to us?"

"Did Alpha Orion leave the pack because the others are in trouble?"

Murmurs rippled through the gathered crowd.

Micah’s father stood just behind her.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

His brow was deeply furrowed.

He nodded slowly.

"We deserve to know what’s happening."

Before Daniel could speak, the doors of the medical facility opened again.

Miles and Genevieve stepped out.

Every head turned to them instantly.

Miles lifted his hands slightly.

"The other trainees are okay," he said clearly.

Genevieve nodded beside him.

"They’re safe."

The relief that swept through the group was visible.

But it did not last.

Micah’s father took a step forward.

"Then why aren’t they back yet?" he asked.

A young man near the back raised his voice.

Bianca’s brother.

"I spoke to Laia," he said quickly. "She said they were okay. That they only went with Orion to make sure Sophia was alright."

Dren’s mother nodded faintly.

"Yes... I know that."

She swallowed.

"But when Miles came back..."

Her gaze drifted toward the gates.

"I thought the others would be back too."

Her voice broke.

"...I know how important Sophia is to my son. I do. And the fact that they’re still not here..."

She pressed her hand to her chest.

"It makes me afraid."

Stacy nodded vigorously beside her.

Her speech was slurred slightly by the old damage to her face, but her meaning was unmistakable.

"My Joren likes Sophia a lot," she said.

Almost fondly.

"Almost as much as he likes Orion."

A few people chuckled softly despite the tension.

Stacy shook her head.

"He would do anything to make sure she’s okay." Her eyes glistened as she spoke. "And that just makes me more worried."

Daniel finally stepped forward.

But it was Caspian who spoke first.

His voice carried easily.

"I know you are worried about your family," he said.

"And you have every right to be."

He looked at each of them deliberately.

"But you should also know this."

"They are with Alpha Orion."

A ripple moved through the group.

"With Sophia."

Another ripple.

"And from what Miles has just told us—Ronan is with them as well."

Caspian continued.

"They are with people capable of protecting them."

He allowed a small, deliberate smile.

"You should not underestimate the group your children are standing beside."

A few shoulders relaxed, but only barely.

"And if this is how worried you are now..." Caspian added with mild humour, "...what will you do when they finally begin working full-time in the ranks?"

A few weak chuckles surfaced despite the tension.