I didn't see Nigel, but I felt the shift.
The pack's energy had a way of carrying whispers—movements of power, quiet decisions being made behind closed doors. My wolf picked up on it instinctively, even as I sat beside Harriet, listening to conversations that no longer held my focus.
Something was happening.
And somehow… I knew it involved him.
—
Nigel stood before his parents, his posture straight, his expression calm—the way a wolf raised within power learned to carry himself. But the room he had been called into felt different from the rest of the gathering.
Quieter.
Heavier.
More calculated.
"Come here, Nigel," Jonathan Manson called, his voice warm but firm, the unmistakable tone of a pack Alpha addressing his heir. "I want you to meet Alpha Johnson, his mate, and their daughter, Leah. You've met before, when you were younger."
Jonathan's eyes softened slightly as they rested on Leah, approval clear in his gaze.
