KELLY THOMPSON'S POV

The grand hall of the royal palace, usually alight with the easy camaraderie of my pack, now thrummed with an ominous intensity. Council members, their faces etched with grim determination, circled around the ancient stone table that had borne witness to countless wars and uneasy truces.

"An aerial assault," Gamma Thorne declared, his voice cutting through the murmuring undercurrents like a knife. "We have the advantage in numbers. A swift strike from above could scatter ...