The party dragged on for endless hours while Itzal sat next to Emily, responding to all the greetings from the pack members, engaging in conversations he had no interest in, and all the while unable to stop thinking about Amelia and how she was doing.
This persistent worry was so constant that it almost irritated him at times. What Itzal wanted most was to leave the party and go look for Amelia since she and Tomas hadn’t returned after he left. But he couldn't leave the luau so early. As the pack leader and the party’s host, he had to be present for a while, interact with people, make it clear he was there for them. Itzal hated the idea of becoming a snobbish leader or someone who distanced himself from his subordinates and isolated himself on a throne. The problem was that tonight, all
