The second we stepped back onto packhouse grounds, I felt the shift. The whispers. The stares. The quiet, pointed fear tightening the air like a rope around my throat. Leah walked slightly ahead of me, probably trying to look like a buffer. Nathan stayed close, so tense he looked carved out of stone. Every wolf we passed pretended not to look while staring directly at me the second I turned away.
A messenger sprinted up to us, eyes wide and panicked. “Alpha. The elders want Margot in the council chamber immediately.”
Of course they did. Because nothing said mental health support like a room full of elderly power hoarders ready to pin the apocalypse on me.
Nathan’s jaw tightened. “Why.”
“They said it is urgent.”
Leah muttered, “That is always a bad sign.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let us get
