My footsteps were entirely silent.
Yet, in the dead quiet of the border clearing, they might as well have been a clap of thunder. Every single eye snapped to me.
And there I stood.
Clara.
The twenty-year-old failure who had never shifted.
The Alpha heir who had become the entire pack's favorite joke.
Panic instantly flared in my mother's eyes.
My father's brows knit tight, his face a volatile mix of confusion and sheer irritation.
With a sharp jerk of his head, he signaled me to back off, his eyes pleading with me not to make things worse.
Near them, George and Anna exchanged a look, tossing a contemptuous glance my way.
Look at this failure, their eyes mocked.
'Does she seriously want to go up there and embarrass herself too?'
Alpha Dylan noticed me, too.
His Beta leaned in,
