Chapter 73

He nodded, his expression growing serious.

“Yes. Silas’s pack has been stirring up trouble along our borders. Scouts have been spotted, leaving signs that they’re monitoring our movements, assessing our defenses. The younger wolves are restless, and even some of our senior warriors are uneasy.”

My chest tightened, the threat of Silas looming closer than I’d expected.

“Are you saying we’re unprepared?”

“Not unprepared,” he replied.

“But vulnerable. Silas is cunning, Elara. He’ll look for any crack in our defenses, any weakness in your leadership. And I know that he won’t hesitate to use Dante’s presence to fuel discord, to make your wolves doubt you.”

I could feel the weight of his words, the truth of them settling over me like a cold shadow. Silas was precisely the type to exploit such vulnerabilities, to use any division in the pack to his advantage. And he would have no problem manipulating the wolves’ memories of Dante as a former Alpha to cast doubt on my leadership.