Chapter 211

• Jaxon
• I woke to the low hum of the pack’s morning stir, the sunlight stretching lazily across the training grounds outside my window. Even in the silence of the early hour, I could feel it, the tension in the air, the faint ripple of unease radiating from my pack. Talon had warned me. People were talking, and not the kind of chatter that was harmless. Whispered doubts, sideways glances, quiet murmurs questioning my strength, my decisions. They were testing me, measuring me, seeing if the Alpha they’d trusted—or feared—had grown soft.
• I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, letting the cool floor awaken me. My body tensed automatically, muscles coiled from years of instinct, ready for confrontation. Loyalty was a fragile thread here. One wrong move, one misjudged word, and it could snap. I’d seen it happen before, and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.