By dawn, the pack was alive with rumors

The guards muttered about how patrols were collapsing during mid-run, their link to the Alpha flickering like dying embers. The healers reported strange feverish dreams spreading through the dens. Even the moonstone at the pack’s altar had cracked clean down the middle.

But no one dared to speak of it openly.

Alpha Marcel returned that same day. Linda’s heart lurched with both relief and anger as she watched him alight from the car and walk into the mansion. His shirt was half-unbuttoned, his tie loose, the mark of his rank glinting faintly on his collar. Yet his presence, which was once overwhelming,...