Kessa led them through the crowd with the ease of someone who still knew the paths.
Several females called out to her by name.
A few of the older ones pulled her aside for short, sharp conversations, questions about the tournament, about the human she had brought back, about the noise that had carried from the inn nights before.
More than one pair of eyes drifted over Kane with open curiosity and open heat while they spoke.
Kane left her to it and moved toward a quieter stall near the edge of the plaza where an older, one-eyed foxkin sat behind a low table covered in marked bones and folded scraps of hide.
The foxkin looked up as Kane stopped in front of him.
"You’re the loud human," the foxkin said.
Not a question.
"I need information. Deeper packs. The guardian’s current range. Mutant activity in the last month."
The foxkin’s remaining eye narrowed.
"Expensive. And dangerous to sell to an outsider."
Kane dropped a small stack of gold on the table without counting it.
"Then make it worth the danger."
The foxkin studied the coins, then Kane, then the gold again. He swept the payment into a pouch and leaned forward.
"Deeper packs are restless. Three of the southern bloodlines have pulled their outer scouts back. Mutants are coming farther down the ridges than they should. Something in the deep forest is pushing them. The guardian hasn’t fully woken, but it’s turning in its sleep. Anyone with sense is staying inside the marked borders at night. Anyone without sense is disappearing."
Kane listened without interrupting.
"And Grathak?"
The foxkin’s mouth twisted.
"The emperor knows. He always knows. He’s letting the pressure build. Some say he’s waiting to see which packs break first so he can remind everyone why they follow him. Others say he’s preparing a public trial for someone who walked into his territory carrying a flying axe and a ranked female."
The one-eyed male looked pointedly at Kane.
"You’ve already been noticed."
Kane nodded once and stepped back.
"That’s enough."
He turned and found Kessa again near a weapons stall.
Three of her old sparring partners, lean, scarred females with narrow eyes, stood around her in a loose circle.
Their conversation stopped when Kane approached.
One of them, a wolf-marked woman with a missing tip on one ear, looked him up and down with open appraisal.
"So this is the one who made the whole lower avenue listen," she said.
"Kessa always did pick the ones who could back it up."
Kessa’s tail flicked once, half-pleased, half-warning.
"I don’t pick anyone. They try their luck and leave."
The wolf-marked female smiled without offense.
"Pity. The stories are interesting."
Before the conversation could go further, a loud, drunken voice cut across the nearby stalls.
"Winged one. You. Come here."
A high-ranking male, bear-marked and heavy with muscle and wine, pushed through the crowd toward Griselda.
His eyes were glassy and fixed on her with the blunt hunger of someone who had decided the night’s entertainment.
Two lower-ranked hangers-on trailed behind him, laughing.
Griselda did not move. Her yellow eyes tracked the approaching male without expression.
The bear-marked male reached for her wing as if he had every right.
"Just a taste. This human already took the tiger bitch. Wings should be shared."
Kane was there before the hand made contact.
He caught the male’s wrist, twisted, and drove him sideways into the nearest support post hard enough to crack the wood.
Creak.
Bone snapped with a wet, clear sound.
The bear-marked male roared in pain and surprise.
Kane did not let go. He forced the broken arm higher until the male dropped to one knee, then released him with a shove that left him sprawled in the dirt.
The plaza went quiet in a spreading ripple.
Kane looked down at the male, voice flat.
"She’s not for tasting. Next hand that reaches gets taken off. I can do this all day."
The two hangers-on backed away immediately.
The bear-marked male clutched his broken arm, breathing hard through bared teeth, red eyes locked on Kane with pure fury and the dawning understanding that he had misjudged the human badly.
Murmurs moved through the watching crowd.
Some nodded with open respect for the clean, decisive violence.
Others scowled at the sight of an outsider crippling a beast male in the middle of the market. No one stepped forward to continue the fight.
Kessa stepped up beside Kane, ears forward, expression sharp.
"We’re done here."
Kane picked up Mjoldr from where it had rested against a stall and settled it back across his shoulder.
Griselda said nothing, but the tension in her wings eased by a fraction.
The three of them moved out of the plaza while the crowd slowly returned to its noise and trade.
Behind them, someone helped the bear-marked male to his feet. No one followed.
They returned to the family compound late.
The main house was still lit.
Razan stood on the porch, arms crossed, red eyes cold.
He had clearly already heard.
News of a broken arm in the night market traveled faster than footsteps.
Kessa spoke first, voice steady.
"He reached for Griselda. Kane answered. That’s the whole of it."
Razan’s gaze stayed on Kane.
"You crippled a male in the open market. Do you understand what that means in this settlement?"
"It means the next one will think twice before touching what’s under my protection," Kane answered.
Razan’s jaw tightened.
For a long moment it looked like the older male might order them out of the compound entirely.
Then Lira appeared in the doorway behind him, arms folded under her heavy breasts, expression unreadable.
"The male in question has a reputation for taking what isn’t offered," she said calmly.
"Most of the lower packs won’t mourn the lesson. The higher ones will watch more carefully. That is not the same as a blood feud."
Razan did not look at his mate.
"You are defending him."
"I am stating facts. The human has not started random fights. He has answered the ones brought to him. There is a difference, even here."
Kessa glanced at her mother, surprised again by the support. Razan’s red eyes moved between the three of them, then settled back on Kane with clear, unresolved conflict.
"You will stay the night. In the morning we will speak again about how much longer this arrangement lasts. If another ranked male ends the night with broken bones, you will leave my territory before the next sunset. Clear?"
Kane met the stare without blinking.
"Clear."
Razan turned and walked back into the main house without another word.
Lira lingered a moment longer, her gaze drifting over Kane with the same assessing interest as before, then followed her mate inside.
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