Juniper

Juniper had watched from above, unseen yet ever-present.

For centuries, she had been a silent observer of the mortal realm, her many eyes gazing upon the struggles of wolves as they lived, fought, loved, and died. She had seen empires rise and crumble, watched the stars shift over generations of packs, listened to the prayers of desperate wolves crying out to the heavens for salvation.

But never had she interfered.

That was not the way of her kind.

Angels did not belong among mortals.

And yet, something about Haru's pack stirred something deep within her—a curiosity, an ache, a calling she had never felt before.

Because they were different.

They were not a pack of simple hierarchy, nor one that followed only the strongest. They had no rigid laws dictating who was worthy to live among them. Instead, they embraced those whom others had cast away.

The abandoned.

The cursed.

The strange.

The wolves with eyes that saw beyond the ordinary.

Kayla, the first seer, with her Dark Eclipse Eyes, who had been cast aside for glimpsing the shadows of fate.

Selene, the second seer, whose Total Eclipse Eyes burdened her with knowledge no wolf should ever bear.

Anput, the unseen goddess, watching, waiting, guarding from beyond the veil.

Juniper saw them all.

And she wondered—if beings like them could exist within this pack, could she?

For the first time in her eternal existence, Juniper longed to walk the earth as they did.

She did not want to remain a distant watcher.

She wanted to understand them.

And so, she made her choice.

The Descent

It was not a storm that heralded her arrival.

No blinding light, no divine trumpets announcing her descent.

Juniper simply appeared.

One moment, the den was still, the usual hum of daily life carrying on without disturbance. The next, she stood at its entrance—a presence unlike any wolf had ever seen before.

Wings, vast and shimmering, folded at her sides.

A pelt so pale it nearly glowed beneath the sunlight.

Eyes—not just two, but many, layered upon her forehead, unblinking, golden, eternal.

She did not hide.

She did not wait to be discovered.

Juniper stepped forward.

A Visitor Unlike Any Other

The wolves of Haru's pack were not easily shaken.

They had welcomed seers, wolves with strange markings, those who bore afflictions that would have seen them chased from other packs.

But Juniper was something else entirely.

She was not of this world.

And yet, she stood before them not as a god, not as an untouchable being, but as a wolf.

It was Haru who stepped forward first.

His stance was calm but measured, his golden eyes studying her with the same careful consideration he gave to every wolf who had come seeking a home.

"You are... not like the others," he said at last.

Juniper inclined her head.

"No," she admitted. "I am not."

A quiet ripple of unease passed through the gathered wolves. But Haru did not turn her away.

Instead, he asked, "Then why are you here?"

And Juniper, for the first time in her existence, spoke the truth not as a divine messenger, not as an eternal watcher, but as something she had never allowed herself to be.

A wolf seeking a place to belong.

A Home Among Mortals
There were no grand trials she had to pass.

No demands placed upon her before she could stay.

Haru's pack did not ask for proof of loyalty, nor did they seek to control what they did not understand.

They simply let her exist among them.

She walked beside them as they hunted, her divine presence strangely at ease among mortal struggles. She listened as pups played, as wolves spoke of their days, as life continued in ways so simple yet so profound.

For the first time, Juniper knew what it was to live.

And the seers—Kayla and Selene—they knew what she was.

They did not need to be told.

Selene, who had seen all things before they happened, had already expected her.

Kayla, whose visions whispered to her in pieces, had dreamt of wings before Juniper had even set foot in their den.

But neither questioned her.

Neither asked what it meant for an angel to dwell among wolves.

Because here, they did not fear what they did not understand.

And so, Juniper stayed.

She had once been a watcher.

Now, she was one of them.