Chapter Twenty-Eight
Alpha Creed's Point Of View
The council chamber carried the memory of smoke and blood even though its stone walls had never seen battle.
That stench clung to me, to my wolf, to the hours since the raid. Not real, but present, clawing its way into the room through memory the way memories did when they had not yet been processed into the past.
Kronos prowled inside me, restless, his claws dragging against my ribcage.
They are safe, I told him. We saved them.
His reply was a snarl so deep it made my chest tighten. Not all. Not yet.
I shoved the thought down and stepped into the circle of elders and betas waiting in the chamber. The carved oak doors closed behind me, the sound echoing like a gavel of judgment. My council rose, some bowing with rigid formality, other
