They were still about half a mile out from camp, when Daivad heard the rhythmic pounding of approaching pawbeats. Kunin and Drauge burst out of the undergrowth, screaming. They rushed laps around Maxea in celebration of her return.

It occurred to Daivad, after Pait froze so completely that she actually stopped breathing, that he probably should have warned her before two more Great Wolves rushed them, whining and howling like they were being torn to shreds. Maxea responded by snapping her teeth at them as if to say Don’t you two have any dignity? and the boys raced back home to announce their arrival to the rest of camp.

The past few days had been eventful enough that Daivad had forgotten the state his camp was in, but the exhausted, unimpressed faces that greeted him upon his return were a swift reminder.

Maxea trotted to a stop beside the stream, just a few yards from Clarix’s grave. Kadie, Lenna, and Tobei were all waiting for him. Tobei was grinning. Lenna and Kadie were not.

Kunin soared out of the forest once more, little more than a silver blur rushing around and around the clearing. Drauge, on the other hand, appeared and immediately threw himself at Maxea’s feet, whining happily and wiggling closer to Maxea’s snarling muzzle.

“Where’s Ben?” Daivad asked.

“Restin—,” Kadie started.

“He claimed you’d be carrying a girl with you,” Lenna interrupted, squinting bloodshot, heavily bagged eyes at him.

Pait was once again frozen behind him, his bulk completely blocking her from view. With a sigh, he dismounted. Quickly, the kid straightened and set her jaw, doing her best to hide the fear that was all over her scent.

Maxea allowed Drauge to lick her bared teeth.

“Pait,” he said, then gestured to the others across the stream. “Kadie, Lenna, and Tobei.”

Kadie softened at the sight of Pait and her twin black eyes that had taken on a greenish tinge, but Lenna just said, “What is it, adoption week? We’re already swimming in strays, Daivad.”

Kadie and Tobei traded shocked looks, their hair whipping in the wind as Kunin rushed past.

Daivad snapped, “Tame your tongue, Lenna.”

And she did, but not her expression. She didn’t go so far as to look him in the eye, though, just kept her defiant gaze on a point off to his right. She was not well, that was obvious at a glance.

“You okay, kid?” Kadie asked.

Stubborn, Pait mumbled, “Not a kid.”

“Right…” Kadie pulled her gaze away from Pait and told Daivad, “We need words. A meeting.”

Daivad had to work to keep the irritation off his face. What did a man have to do to earn a few hours in his own bed? He just wanted to wash up, crash on his mattress, listen to the sounds of the forest, and maybe enjoy the remnants of her scent on his cloak.

“Tomorrow. I need to get the kid settled in,” he invented.

“Not a k—”

“Tobei can do that,” Lenna said.

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“No.”

“Daivad…” Kadie had her stern-mothering voice on.

But she should know by now that it had no effect on him. “Tomorrow.”

Kadie started to argue, but Tobei said, “My haul covered us for the next week at least, Kay. And now that all the Wolves are back, that’ll triple what they can hunt. Daivad hasn’t had a night in his bed in weeks.”

Tobei obviously wanted something, but Daivad was grateful enough that he would worry about that later. Daivad sent him a glance and Tobei beamed back.

Kadie gave a begrudging sigh, and added, “You need to address the newcomers, too. They’re lost puppies wandering around camp.”

“Fine.” At a gesture from Daivad, Maxea lowered her chest to the forest floor, nearly sending Pait sliding off over her head and onto Drauge. By the time the kid had scrambled to her feet, Daivad had already hopped the stream and was headed toward camp.

Daivad knew he was coming back to a mess, but he’d expected camp to at least be in better shape than it had been when he’d left. It was not. Piles of wood half-constructed into new buildings, new beds, new bridges were littered all over camp and everyone was doing something. Except the newcomers from Duxon who were, indeed, wandering around camp looking awkward and vaguely confused.

Daivad tried to give Pait a general tour of the camp—he’d first taken her to the infirmary, hoping to find a free bed there for her but instead finding it so packed with people that he couldn’t even make himself go in. The little village was so swollen that it was barely recognizable. More than once he started to explain the purpose of a certain building, like the big building in the middle of camp they used for meetings, only to discover it had been repurposed as housing. Maybe he should have let Tobei get the kid settled in.

Pait, who had been nervously chatting at him ever since they’d left Luvatha, was now so silent, so focused on looking like she wasn’t terrified that Daivad had no idea if she was listening to a word he said.

As usual, eyes tracked him everywhere he went. The newcomers in particular were affected by his presence, some bowing when he passed or even looking close to tears. All of them thanked him, which made him regret telling Kadie he’d address them all tomorrow. He knew what they needed, to stop looking so lost and out of place—a purpose and a sense of community. And he knew he was supposed to be the one to give it to them. He’d brought them all here, after all. But the idea of standing before them, acting like the leader they needed, letting them rest all their gratitude and hopes and expectations on him…

It made him twitchy.

When they had made a full lap of the entire camp, their tour ended in the gardens—it seemed people had even been sleeping out here. Daivad saw bedrolls rolled up and set aside to clear the walkways through the crops during the day. There was a twinge of guilt in his gut.

He hadn’t found a single house that had room for even one more bed in it—Tobei and Ben had even been sleeping in his house, giving their own beds over to those who had none. “You may have to make your bed on a landing for a few nights. With Ben and me both back, we’ll have new houses up soon.”

She looked up at him, suddenly alarmed. “What?”

“With all our guards, we don’t need walls. You’ll be fine.”

“And safety nets under all the landings? What if I roll over in my sleep?”

Daivad stared at her. “Don’t.”

She gave a squeaky kind of scoff.

“The landings have rails.”

Pait stuck a hand out to gesture to the rail right beside them. “You don’t think I could roll right under that?”

Daivad’s eyes snagged on the letters marring Pait’s arm for only a fraction of a second, but Pait noticed. A blink later, and the arm was safely back within her cloak. She turned her face away. Swallowed.

“Fine, whatever,” she snapped.

He hesitated. “Just a few days,” he repeated.

Pait didn’t look at him.

“Come on,” he grunted and started toward the middle of the village, “I’ll show you where storage is. Get you a bedroll.”

Daivad knew what this was like, being a kid forced from the only home you’d ever known and into a completely alien world. No friends or family to help you. The problem was, he had no idea what was the right thing to say, because there had been no one to say the right thing to him when he was shipped off to the castle. Neither the Colonel nor Aran were any good at communication or comfort.

But, there had been Auxica.