DERIK

Another night, another council meeting where I had to pretend that I had all the answers.

I didn’t. I didn’t have a fucking clue, but I couldn’t let that show.

So, I suffocated the fear that tried to leak out of my eyes, straightened my spine, and gave everyone the only attitude I ever wore around them. Confidence.

Because they were wolves, old and wise, and they could smell fear a mile away, I couldn’t let it touch me.

Especially since it wasn’t fear for the pack that made my stomach turn and my heart race, it was fear for my mate and the child she carried.

The birth...