The study had been rearranged for a war council.
Maren and Rowan on one side of the table. Crane brought in under escort and seated near the door, his two guards standing far enough back to be respectful and close enough to mean it. Caden stood at the head of the table with his arms crossed and his weight settled, the specific stance of an Alpha who has decided that whatever happens in this room, he is not moving from it.
I sat where I had been sitting all morning. Across from Maren. Beside the empty chair Caden had occupied earlier.
He did not take it now. He stood.
Rowan laid out three options with the clean efficiency of a Beta who had spent the last hour turning the problem over from every angle he could find.
"One," he said. "We release Crane and track him. Let him return to his
