forty seven

“I've gathered you all here today to make a sorrowful announcement," Cass uttered, as his gaze swept across every single person in the hall.

Muted whispers broke out among the crowd, only to be silenced as Cass cleared his throat and continued. “It is with great regret that I must inform you all of the passing of our beloved Alpha, Aiden Black,” he revealed, mopping his brow with a handkerchief.

The audience reacted with stunned silence, murmurs and expressions of shock rippling through the crowd as Cass fell silent.

“Alpha Aiden wanted his illness kept secret,” Cass revealed, wiping away the sweat from his brow once again. “He didn't want any members of the Blood Moon Pack to know as well.”

Gasps and murmurs of disbelief rippled through the hall as the news sank in. The idea that their Alpha, their leader, had been suffering silently, unbeknownst to them, was a shock to the core of their pack identity.

Blake on the other hand clenched his fist tightly as he stood in the midst of the