My stomach turned uncomfortably. “I’m not breaking up with her,” I said. “Look. I’m open to merging our packs, I just don’t want David to take advantage of it.”

“He will if Dalesbloom takes over Grandbay. You’d have no power, Gavin. None of us would,” said Gretel, always the voice of reason.

I only felt worse, my doubts rising as my Betas dissuaded me from giving in to David’s pressures. The answer seemed obvious to them, but it frustrated me that they didn’t know the ...