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CHAPTER 21

Author: V. LORDE
last update Last Updated: 2024-11-04 22:56:37

The following week’s morning felt thick with an unnatural quiet, the kind that settles right before a storm. I had barely set foot in the packhouse before Jason intercepted me, his face drawn and tense.

“Elisse,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “Victor Gutcheri has arrived.”

The words hit me like a punch. The Alpha King had arrived, here, on our territory. And not just any Alpha King—Harold’s father, Victor Gutcheri. Known for his ironclad rule and his ruthless demand for loyalty, Victor was a man even the boldest alphas feared. The fact that he had chosen to come here unannounced could mean only one thing: he intended to investigate something, perhaps even disrupt it.

I felt my stomach tighten as I nodded and took a breath. “Where is he now?”

“He’s in the main hall. Harold is with him,” Jason replied, glancing down the corridor nervously.

“Right.” I forced my voice to stay steady, though my pulse thrummed with anxiety. “I’ll be right there.”

But even as I spoke, I felt the
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