The tension in the air was thick, the heavy silence almost suffocating as the werewolves recounted their harrowing experience. Alaric stood still, listening intently, his sharp gaze flicking between the faces of the pack members. Their eyes were wide with fear, their bodies tense with the weight of the loss they had suffered. Alaric couldn't help but think of Adrianna's children, their innocence shattered by the very same darkness that seemed to haunt this forest. The terror on the werewolves' faces mirrored that of Adrianna's young ones, the same helplessness, the same fear. The pressure weighed on him—he wasn't just fighting for answers anymore; he was fighting for the safety of everyone who could be swept into the same nightmare.