The request came the next morning.
Formal. Clean. Unavoidable.
Vineyard's command hall was full when Snow Team assembled, stone walls catching low murmurs that fell silent as Victor entered. The mood was different. No glances. No posturing.
It was respect, palpable and absolute.
Victor didn't slow when he entered. The room shifted around him, like a current around stone.
Damien moved half a step behind him. Not beside him. Never beside him. The placement was deliberate.
Voss entered last.
Which meant everyone in the room understood the order without needing it spoken.
Victor, Damien, and Voss.
Hierarchy settled into the space like gravity, steady and inescapable. Felicity followed between them.
And somehow, she still looked like sunlight wandering into a war room.
Her presence softened the room inexplicably. Shoulders lowered. Breaths deepened. The edge of violence within each beastman dimmed, if only slightly.
No one acknowledged it. Everyone felt it.
