Chapter 142

Kiara Tension filled the Alpha court of the Silvermoon Pack, the kind that sticks to one’s skin like damp moss. I was seated at the long, old table, tapping the polished surface with my fingers, inhaling the barely discernible scent of cedar and old leather. The chamber was smaller than Dane’s, less opulent perhaps, but no less imposing with that ill weight of purpose—stone walls marred by claw marks, an antler chandelier with candles spitting wax onto the floor above. My father, Edward, slumped at the head of the table, his gray-streaked beard and keen eyes darting between the rest of us. Across me sat Alpha Finn, his wiry frame coiled with the restless energy that I had come to loathe, his smirk further irritating me, and a few others filled the seats—pack elders, warriors—all with twisted faces expressing hope and doubt. Their eyes were all glued to the speakers, waiting for the current debate to end and answer their deepest concerns. It had been about her: Lusia, the weak-wolfed th