The pack assembly hall held two hundred and thirty-seven eligible voters and felt, to Marcus, like the longest room he had ever stood in.
He positioned himself near the platform’s edge rather than its center. The choice had been deliberate, made that morning after careful thought about what this moment should represent. Standing at the center would suggest expectation. Standing to the side said something truer. This decision belonged to the pack. He stood as a candidate, not a certainty.
Sera noticed when she entered. He felt her quiet approval through the mate bond before her expression revealed it.
The hall differed from the ceremony of reaffirmation. No candles. No ceremonial drapery. Only wolves seated in a wide arc and the charged awareness of a community preparing to exercise actu
