The dining room was massive, with a table that could seat thirty people. Already, pack members were taking their places, alphas and betas from allied families, high-ranking wolves from the Blackwood pack itself. Everyone who mattered in their political world.

And at the head of the table, in the seat that should have belonged to the alpha's mate, sat Seraphina. She looked like she'd been born for that chair, radiating confidence and authority. The brothers flanked her, Stephen to her right, ...