Aurora’s POV

The hall was thick with grief. I watched from the shadows, arms crossed, my expression calm but my mind calculating. Every sob, every tear, every whispered prayer was a tool I used to cement my control. I knew how to manipulate their pain—how to twist it into a weapon for my own ambitions.

The room was dim, lit only by flickering candles and the faint glow of the moonlight filtering through the windows. The pack members’ faces were streaked ...