CHAPTER 82
CHELSEA
The evening wore on, each minute dragging longer than the last. I sat with Elijah, the tension from earlier slowly easing away. He was good company, a distraction from the stress and pretenses I had to maintain around everyone else. We talked about mundane things—books, movies, anything that wasn't related to the pack or the constant threat looming over me. It was a relief, a small bubble of normalcy in the otherwise chaotic world I found myself in.
But that relief was short-lived.
I could feel Axel's eyes on me from across the room. Even when he was engaged in conversation with others, his gaze would flicker over to where I sat with Elijah. I knew he wasn’t pleased. The look in his eyes was dark, angry, and filled with something else—something that made my stomach
