Chapter81: A unified front

KELLY THOMPSON'S POV  The air was thick with the musk of apprehension, my heart racing as I eyed the assembly before me. These were leaders hardened by their own trials, each carrying the weight of their pack's legacy on their shoulders as surely as I bore mine. The room echoed with the low murmurs of discordant voices, a cacophony of concern that threatened to drown out the call for unity. "Remember," I whispered under my breath, "the Black Faes are watching, waiting in the shadowed fringes of our world." I could feel the darkness that loomed beyond our borders, the malignant presence of The Black Faes-a reminder of what we all stood to lose if divided. They were like a poison seeping through the veins of the earth, silent and unseen until it was too late. Their schemes, woven through with malice and deception, lurked at the edge of my mind, an ever-present specter of chaos that needed but a crack to splinter our defenses. "Unity is not just a shield against the unknown threats," I sp