A bony hand taps you on the shoulder, and you twist in place, bringing a claw to bear before you recognize the face of Payat, an older wolf who used to spend most of his time in Bly's dojo. His well-worn glasses and thin, lanky body make him easy to underestimate, but inside burns the soul of a fighter. You've seen Payat take down more than one wolf twice his weight with the graceful fluidity of a natural-born killer.
The wiry wolf jerks a thumb to the rooftop door. "Head on down. Meeting's almost over, and we all need to cast a vote."
"Vote?"
"Yeah," Payat says as he slinks up to replace you at the watch station. "Ahote's planning a protest. All peaceful-like. Haken wants to fight, but he's having a tough time getting the pack's blood heated up. Says we've been 'domesticated.'" Payat hawks and spits over the edge of the roof. "He's right, too. The animal's gone outa this lot. They'd rather be comfortable in slavery than die as free creatures. But whatta I know? I'm just a scrapper." He sniffs. "Get down there and give Haken an ear. He may not win out tonight, but between you and me, he's gonna be running this show soon enough."
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