*Saoirse*
The air was thick with tension and the scent of fury as we all drew ragged breaths. My father's nostrils flared, his eyes blazing. His anger was on full display as he turned his attention from me to his people. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides as he paced back and forth. The floorboards of the porch creaked beneath his weight.
Shifters could be volatile, and it was clear that my father was trying not to shift as his anger overtook him.
"Blackstone was our lifeline!" my father's voice boomed through the clearing, each word striking like thunder. The man up there was no longer my father but my Alpha, Alpha of Hunters Glen. "Without their alliance, without a future Alpha, Hunters Glen is teetering on the brink of ruin!"
I stood there, my heart hammering against my
