After Serena emerges from Koen’s cabin, Amanda teases her about the pack knowing Serena and Koen finally got together, then gives Serena a brief update on the Northwest. Amanda admits that acting as substitute Alpha mostly meant mediating petty disputes, which reinforces how much authority and stability Koen brings to the pack. Serena, newly able to shift again and restless after her Heat, goes looking for Koen and finds him chopping wood for the Humans.

When Serena asks whether the danger from the Vampyres is over, Koen tells her Owen has cleaned up the council and ended the bounty on Serena and Ana. Serena begins thinking about contacting Nele and Misery and figuring out her next steps, but Koen instead calls Serena closer and reveals that he plans to step down as Alpha once Irene is dealt with. Because Koen now knows Serena loves him, and because he has read the letter Serena wrote before expecting to die, Koen has decided he will not choose the pack over a life with her again.

Serena reacts with alarm and refuses to accept Koen’s plan. She argues that the Northwest needs him, that Amanda does not want the role, and that any successor would face dangerous challenges. Koen insists he can leave and help guide a replacement, but Serena concludes that if Koen sacrifices the pack for her, he will eventually resent the choice and she will hate herself for it. To stop him, Serena says plainly that if Koen resigns for her, she will not stay with him. Their standoff ends only when Amanda interrupts to say Nele wants to speak with Serena and Koen about Irene’s plans.

During the meeting, Serena comforts a frightened Nele while Koen reassures her that the Northwest will not punish her Human relatives. Koen explains that the pack never slaughtered cult Humans indiscriminately and that Irene has lied to keep the Favored afraid of Weres. Nele admits the Northwest’s kindness has surprised her, asks whether she and the other Humans can stay, and says she would like to be Serena’s friend. She also reveals that Job, the boy sent to retrieve Serena, was her friend and was effectively abandoned by the cult when he failed.

Nele then tries to help by offering to show Koen the cult’s hideouts, but Koen shuts that down because she is only sixteen and has already suffered enough. Instead, Nele says she has prepared a list of the remaining Favored, now fewer than fifty people, about half of them Weres, including her older sister. Finally, Nele shares the most urgent warning: the prophet’s birthday is in two days, anger against the Northwest has been rising since Serena’s interview, many Favored have been talking about the Harrowing, and Irene’s followers have been stockpiling firearms and training people to use them. The chapter ends with the threat of an organized, armed attack becoming immediate and concrete.