"I didn't know about it," he said. "Before Monday."
"I know."
"I've been running this pack for six years."
"You've been running it while also running Wolfe Enterprises, managing a forty-seven-year suppression operation that threatened your Alpha line, and navigating a contract arrangement the entire pack was watching." I looked at him. "The boundary dispute is mine. That's what the role is for — not to be impressive, but to cover the things that need covering that the Alpha doesn't have bandwidth for."
He was quiet for a moment. The elevator came.
"Richard Holt," he said, as we stepped in. "His nod."
"Yes."
"He's been on the council for twenty-two years. I have never seen him give that nod to anyone who hasn't held the role for at least a year."
"I know," I said. "Margaret told me
