Power is easy to win in battle.
Keeping it is administrative.
That realization settled over me as I stood at the head of the long council table, sunlight cutting across polished oak and the faces of wolves who had once questioned whether I would survive the season.
Now they questioned something else.
What I would become.
Derek stood to my right, immaculately composed. Jax leaned back against the far wall, arms crossed, watchful in that dangerous way of his that made men choose their words carefully.
The council chamber smelled of parchment, ink, and restrained anxiety.
Good.
They should feel it.
“We can’t ignore what’s already happened,” I said evenly. “The bond between us exists. It is stable. It strengthens the pack.”
A murmur rippled down the table.
Elder Marcello cleared his
