Chapter 170

Simon POV The hall was alive with firelight and song. Torches lined the stone pillars, their flames snapping against the evening air that drifted through the open arches. The scent of roasted meat and spiced bread carried across the gathering, mingling with the sharper tang of wine. For the first time in as long as I could remember, there were no divisions in the way the tribes stood. No quiet clusters of suspicion, no tight circles of whispered doubt. Tonight, they stood shoulder to shoulder, their voices rising in unison as the drums marked the rhythm of celebration. But it wasn’t the feast they had come for. It was the binding. Charlie stood at the center of the hall, his shoulders squared, his jaw set with a determination that reminded me of the first time he swore loyalty to me as Alpha. Noelle was beside him, her hands folded in front of her, her dark eyes luminous in the torchlight. She wasn’t the work-hardened healer tonight, nor the woman who had hesitated so many times before