Chapter 286

• Elysia
• The great hall at Stormridge had been transformed for the occasion, banners from a dozen packs hanging alongside the Stormridge crest, the assembled Alphas and Elders seated in careful, deliberate order that reflected decades of territorial protocol. I sat near the front, Kade beside me, Carson and Silas positioned close enough to react quickly if anything required it.
• My eyes caught, briefly, on a man standing near the hall's security detail rather than seated among the delegates — composed, unremarkable in the deliberate way Denzel had once described a stranger at a handoff gone wrong. Alistair Thorne, according to the credentials clipped to his collar, listed simply as Warden of Assembly. It made sense enough that I barely registered him twice: someone had to run security for a gathering this size, and the role suited a man built to be forgotten the moment he left a room. I filed the thought away with everything else I hadn't yet found the time to chase down properly, and let the Council be called to order.