~Caspian's POV~
The room was brimming with tension the kind that clung to your skin like smoke. We were seated around the long, oak council table carved generations ago by the founding wolves of our pack.
To my right sat Cayden, rigid in his seat, his jaw set as hard as stone. Across from us, Leon, our Gamma, leaned forward, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. He didn't speak much, but when he did, his words often cut deeper than fangs.
The elders filled the rest of the room—three wrinkled old wolves clinging to their pride like lifelines. Elder Austin is the loudest. Elder O'Brian, the cruelest. Elder Gina, the only one with any damn sense left. My parents sat in their usual place, mother with her ever-present silk handkerchief, dabbing at tears that never seemed real. And at the far end, cloaked in calm power, sat Aurora the only witch in our territory. She kept her coven under us, helped with spells, and mostly stayed out of our politics.
Mostly.
But not today.
