"Did you hear me, Kaelen?" Elara snapped, her voice grating against the heavy, oppressive silence of the office. She tapped her silver-heeled shoe against the hardwood floor, her face flushing with irritation. "The investors are murmuring. The band stopped playing. And I will not have my pup's futur

The grand ballroom of the Obsidian Packhouse was a sea of nervous murmurs and frantic whispers.

Just twenty minutes ago, the gala had been a triumphant display of Kaelen's supposed wealth. The crystal chandeliers had sparkled, the champagne had flowed freely, and the region's wealthiest investors

The silence in the grand ballroom was absolute, heavy enough to crush bone. Hundreds of backs remained rigidly turned toward the landing where Kaelen Cross knelt. It was the ultimate, ancient gesture of Lycan rejection. To be shunned by one’s own pack was a fate worse than execution; it was a total