Dawn came with smoke and ash. We burned the bodies. Pack tradition demanded it. Thirteen wolves lost. Thirteen families destroyed—thirteen reasons to hate the Council even more.
I stood at the pyre and watched flames consume the dead. My father should have been among them. Should have received the same honour. But his body was gone and taken during the battle. Stolen by someone for some purpose I could not begin to understand.
“We will find him,” Kade said beside me. He had not left my side since the fight ended. Had not let me out of his sight. “We will bring him home.”
“The Council has him. They must. They took him for a reason.”
“What reason?”
I did not know. But the thought made my stomach turn. What could they want with a dead alpha’s body? What dark magic required corpses and bl
