Nocturnace had always walked alone.
A wolf of the deep night, his coat as black as the void between stars, he was a wanderer by choice, shaped by seasons of hardship and battles fought in silence. He had been part of packs before—once, long ago—but time had worn his patience thin, and trust was not something he gave freely anymore. Age had made him wise, experience had made him wary, and solitude had made him strong.
So when he first crossed paths with Resplendence and her growing pack, he had little interest in staying. He saw their vision, their fire, their relentless hope, and dismissed it as the naive dreams of younger wolves. Packs always started with promises—unity, strength, a future—and always ended in betrayal, blood, and loss. He had no need for it.
Resplendence, however, had other plans.
She was unlike any wolf he had met before—unshaken by his cold indifference, undeterred by his clipped words and distant glares. Where others would have left him to his solitude, she challenged it, stepping closer instead of backing away. She would tease him about his gruff demeanor, call him "Old Shadow" with a grin in her voice, and refuse to let his silence push her away.
"You pretend not to care," she had once mused, walking beside him after a hunt. "But you always circle back, just close enough to watch over us."
He had scoffed at her words, but he never denied them.
It wasn't a grand moment that changed him—no dramatic battle, no life-altering epiphany. It was simply time, and Resplendence's unwavering light, that finally wore him down. Slowly, without realizing it, he found himself waiting for her voice, for the warmth in her gaze when she looked at him like he was more than just a ghost of the past. He still bristled at the younger wolves, still kept his distance, but Resplendence never minded. She let him come closer at his own pace.
And one evening, beneath a sky littered with stars, he stood beside her not as a rogue, not as an outsider, but as something more. As hers.
"You win, Little Flame," he had murmured, eyes soft in a way only she had ever seen. "I'll stay."
Scout 
Scout