Chapter 123

Ryder's POV

I watched Elder Hugh, staring at his lips as he began pushing out the plight of our packs to my step-brother, Hudson. He was here physically, but his voice seemed distant. It was as though he was talking from across the room when he only stood beside me.

I caught snippets of what he said but my mind was too far away to piece together his words. I still thought about the message that I had received from Jason and I ached to hear back from him. I kept on glancing at the door whenever I caught someone walked by from my peripheral vision and grunted when I realized it wasn't him.

"Prince Ryder," I heard someone call from a distance. The voice seemed faint so I didn't give it much heed. It wasn't until I felt a light tap on my shoulder that I came out of my thoughts and turned away from the door.

"Yes?" I muttered as I looked up at the elder who had tapped me. My face was squeezed into a frown and I made sure to add as much spite as I could into my tone. "What is it?"

"Alp