An Hour Earlier...
"How does that bastard still have the nerve to go ahead with the coronation? After everything?"
Crane paced the length of his room, like a man who had swallowed a hornet's nest.
Brian sat slumped in an armchair, watching his father's frantic pacing with the tired expression of someone who had seen this show too many times. He didn't say a word. He just waited for the storm to pass.
Crane reached the window and stopped, looking down at the courtyard where the guests had begun to arrive.
Alphas and high-ranking Lycans, their cars rolling in one after another, doors opening, finery spilling out across the steps. The whole of the upper tier of Lycan society, gathering to watch his nephew take a crown.
"Think, Brian. Think!" Crane snapped, turning sharply. "Why are you suddenly so nonchalant about him being crowned?"
Brian sighed. "Father, you've been the one acting nonchalant about the coronation. Why the sudden panic now?"
