#Chapter 99: What’s Best for the Pack

Ava I lingered just outside in the hallway, peering through the cracked door into Chris’s study with a pained expression on my face. He was seated at his large oak desk, his brow furrowed in concentration as he pored over a stack of papers and photographs scattered in front of him. The list. I didn’t need to see the pages up close to know what he was working on—compiling detailed personal profiles on a selection of eligible bachelorettes from our neighboring packs, as per the Elders’ demand. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach as I watched him sort through the papers. I knew in my heart that this was nothing more than an appeasement tactic for now, a way to satisfy the Elders until he found Olivia and the moonstone. Still, seeing him like this made my heart twist in my chest. I couldn’t help but wonder… what if this went too far? What if the Elders eventually gave him no choice but to marry one of these women? Or even worse, what if he fell in lo