~RYLAND'S POV~
The argument started over positioning, the way most arguments between Kael and me started, over something specific and tactical that had a larger disagreement sitting underneath it.
We'd been at the map table for two hours. All three Alphas, Cade, Eren's second, two of Kael's senior warriors. The pressure of the last week was showing on everyone in different ways, Kael's patience had compressed into something shorter and more combustible, Eren had gone increasingly internal the way he did when he was managing too many variables simultaneously, and I was running on less sleep than was sustainable and had stopped pretending otherwise.
Kael wanted Shadowfang's warriors pushed further south. Into the forest approaches, creating a tighter perimeter around the territory where Selara was expected to emerge based on the movement patterns Eren had mapped.
"The mountain passes aren't the threat," Kael said, his finger landing on the map with more force than the map required.
