Nero POV
"Wonderful," she said. Her voice carried perfectly. Like she'd practiced. "Truly. The Blackwater brothers. Everything we've always known them to be."
I said nothing.
"But I find myself wondering." She looked around the arena. Including the crowd in this. Making them part of it. "The creatures our pack will face. They're not brothers who know each other's timing." She tilted her head. "They don't pull their blows. They don't get up laughing." She paused. "If you truly want to show your pack what strength looks like. Show them something real."
The crowd was very still.
"I have a suggestion," she said. "A demonstration."
She gestured toward the far gate.
It opened.
Nobody spoke.
Not one person in that arena made a sound.
Then it came in.
The forest beast. The one that had
