Julian POV
"She is nothing but a pack-jumper."
Casper spat the words into his champagne glass. He did not look at me. He kept his greedy eyes fixed on the center of the grand hall.
I did not move. My fingers tightened around the thick crystal base of my Bloody Mary. The red liquid sloshed against the rim. Across the crowded room, the bright chandeliers of the Moon Goddess Honour Gala caught the silver threads of her gown.
Penelope.
She stood under the massive arched ceiling. She did not look like the quiet, broken girl I threw out of my pack house three months ago. Her spine was a straight line of pure steel. Her shoulders were back. Worst of all, her energy was different. It was thick. It was heavy. It was the undeniable weight of an Alpha aura, cold and sharp, biting through the war
