The Iron Fang council chambers were packed.
I walked through the double doors with my spine straight and my chin up.
An alpha claiming what was hers.
River moved at my left, a wall of controlled aggression—leather, steel, and quiet violence. Cade walked on my right, sharper, colder, no trace of
his usual charm. Today, he was all predator.
Luna Elizabeth followed three steps behind, briefcase in hand.
Because th
is wasn’t a gathering.
It was a trial.
Black Talon wolves filled the left side—Korr’s pack, now mine. Their faces were hard, grieving, uncertain.
Iron Fang filled the right—my birth pack.
They should have stood with me.
They didn’t.
I stopped ten feet from the council table.
Five elders sat in judgment.
Alpha Rian at the center.
My future father-in-law.
But pack la
