The scent hit her first—foreign, sharp, threaded with smoke and frost. It cut through the air of the council hall long before he appeared, and every wolf in the room seemed to feel it. Heads turned. Conversations faltered. The heavy wooden doors opened with deliberate slowness, and Alpha Corvin stepped inside.

He was taller than she’d expected. Pale eyes, like cold steel, scanned the hall as if it belonged to him already. His presence carried the kind of quiet dominance that made every ...