The sun sits high in the sky, its warmth gentle, but the air around the NorthHill Pack is anything but calm. There is tension in the gathering — thick, almost suffocating — as Lowell stands before the entire pack, alongside Nathan and Nathan’s father. The clearing is packed. Faces stare at them, some curious, others cold, and a few openly hostile. But there is no turning back now.
Lowell clears his throat, standing tall, shoulders straight. He has waited for this moment, but it weighs heavier than he imagined. His voice comes steady.
“I stand before you not to boast, but to make a promise,” he begins, eyes sweeping across the faces of wolves who have lost loved ones, who have seen betrayal, and who are uncertain about what comes next. “I will lead better than my father did. I have come t
