The words hung in the suffocating heat of the great hall.
He went down with the avalanche. He's buried in the gorge.
For exactly three seconds, Aria couldn't breathe. The world tilted on its axis, the roaring fire in the hearth suddenly sounding like rushing water in her ears. A few of the younger wolves in the hall began to whimper. Elsie let out a sharp, devastated gasp.
In Silvercrest, if an Alpha fell, the pack immediately fractured. Panic would set in, followed by a vicious, bloody fight for the sudden power vacuum.
But this wasn't Silvercrest. And Aria was done being a victim.
The paralyzing terror shattered, replaced by a fierce, burning adrenaline that flooded her veins. Her wolf, usually quiet and cautious, rose up in her mind with a feral, possessive snarl. Mine. He is mine,
