Rowan's POV
The invitation from the Ashford pack arrived three days after Adrian's confinement began, formal and unavoidable, requesting my presence at a dinner meant to solidify an alliance I'd been quietly negotiating for months. Alpha Ashford intended to bring his eldest son. Several other territory leaders would attend as well, minor Alphas whose loyalty mattered less individually than it did collectively, a web of relationships I couldn't afford to neglect regardless of everything currently unraveling within my own walls.
Mira would need to attend beside me.
I hadn't fully considered the logistics of that requirement until Elias raised it over breakfast, watching me with the particular knowing expression he wore whenever he'd identified a problem before I had.
"She's going to need
