Lyanna surveyed the startled gathering, she noted that there were exactly seven people seated around the long wooden table.
Six of those faces were twisted into various degrees of shock and disbelief.
The only person in the entire room whose expression remained completely neutral, calm, and unreadable was Cedric.
In truth, Cedric had picked up the distinct resonance of Lyanna's heartbeat long before anyone else in the room had even noticed her presence.
His advanced perception was not merely a byproduct of his status as the most powerful Alpha in the territory.
Instead, it was the deep, primal pull of their mate bond that had stirred violently within his chest the moment she stepped into the corridor.
Deep inside his mind, his inner wolf, Ash, was roaring restlessly, completely refusing to calm down while loudly chanting the word mate over and over again in a booming voice.
