Leah
The road narrowed as we approached the royal hunting grounds, trees closing in until the asphalt felt like a tunnel carved through green shadow. I kept my eyes on the centerline, fingers tight on the wheel, but the silence between us had grown teeth. Kaelen’s earlier words still hung in the air—his quiet declaration that power was everything, that women were rewards, that Ella would always be the one he loved. Every syllable had cut deeper than I wanted to admit.
I couldn’t let it sit.
“You want to be Alpha?” I said, voice low but steady. “Then you need a pack behind you. An Alpha isn’t one wolf standing alone. We’ve survived this long because we move as packs—everywhere, always. You can be the bravest, the most visionary, the most ambitious wolf in the kingdom, but if you lose the
