" Aria, you are signing away everything. Your glory, your standing, your legacy. Are you quite sure about this? Though I didn't flinch, Elder Kellen's voice sliced over the council chamber's stillness like a dagger.
I grabbed a sign-it marker and shoved it across the table toward my soon-to-be ex-mate. His arrogant attitude did not change as he leaned closer, picking up the pen with fingers that stroked deliberately across mine.
"Don't worry, Aria," he said, his voice slanted with phony sympathy. "One day you will thank me for allowing you to leave. A leader like you was never supposed to belong to anybody.
My wolf howling at his arrogance, I closed my fists under the table. "I belonged not to you, Darius. Your first error was that one.
Finalizing her divorce in a public council meeting, Aria, the She- Alpha of the Silver Dawn Pack, sets the stage for a tense and judgmental scenario full of elder and pack member alike. Claiming it would benefit the pack, her partner Darius has selected another woman—a younger, more obedient omega.
Knowing that her pack sees Aria as a failure for not being able to keep her bond, the emotional stakes get higher as she fights the humiliation of rejection. The elderly doubts her leadership and gently imply she should resign.
Though Aria presents a stoic façade, her inner monologue shows her suffering and seething rage. Vowing silently to show that a mate does not define her power or value, she resists letting this event define her.
Aria hears whispers among the group about her unworthy leadership as the conference ends. Outside the chamber, she approaches Darius, charging him with distorting the story to challenge her power.
"You designed this, not sure? Her voice quiet but nasty, she charges. "You knew the council would ask questions of me should you leave."
Darius grins, his answer cutting right back. "The council need me not to challenge you, Aria. You have been doing a really good job at that personally.
Their confrontation is cut short as a messenger shows along bearing breaking news: stray wolves have been seen close to their borders.
Aria starts Alpha mode right away, assembling her soldiers to look at the renegade activities despite personal conflict. She thinks she is being watched as she guides her load over the forest—an uncomfortable presence she cannot identify.
She writes it off as paranoia until she catches a brief view of a person far away. Observing her discreetly from the shadows, her spine shivers from his controlling aura; she does not yet realize it is the Lycan King.
Returning at the pack house, Aria discovers an unsigned letter on her desk that has terrifying words: "A leader without a mate is a leader with a target." She-Alpha, pay attention to your rear.
Her wolf bristles as she crumples the message, will blazing in her eyes. She lets them come under her breath, growls.
Half of the patrol missed this morning. "Aria How long we can keep the borders open without their approval is unknown.
Stopped in the pack house corridor midway through a step, I turned swiftly to face Samuel, my beta. His wrinkled face and strained stance revealed all I needed to know: the gaps in my leadership were widening more quickly than I had thought.
"They never showed up?" Though my voice was sharper than I had intended, I didn't give a damn.
"No, Alpha," he whispered softly, staring down the corridor as though he thought someone would hear. "And they're not the only ones challenging your directive."