Page 35 of Noah

“Yeah, it does,” Noah said.

The peace shattered in an instant. The scrape of chairs and the rising volume of angry voices pulled my attention to the far end of the dining hall.

A knot of tension coiled in my gut as I took in the scene.

Reid, Marshall, and Eli, three of my wolves, stood tense and ready, their postures rigid with aggression.

Across from them, three of Adrian’s wolves mirrored their stance, hostility sparking in their eyes.

The air between them was charged, thick with the kind of animosity that had been simmering for years, waiting for the right moment to ignite.

One of Adrian’s enforcers, Karl, stepped forward, a self-satisfied smirk plastered across his face.

“Constantly bring up border disputes, Silver Crest? What’s next? Crying to the council because you’re too weak to handle your own land?” Karl said with a sneer. He cracked his scarred knuckles.

The insult was like a match to dry kindling. My wolf bristled, the low growl that rumbled from my chest barely restrained.

Karl’s taunts weren’t just about land; they were a direct attack on our strength, our pride, our very identity as a pack.

Every fiber of my being screamed to respond, to show Karl that we weren’t weak, that we would never bow to the likes of him or Adrian’s pack.

I scanned the room quickly, searching for Hudson. My brother, the future alpha of Silver Crest, should have been the one to handle this.

It was his responsibility to stand in front of our pack, to face off against threats like Karl, and to ensure that no one doubted our strength or our unity.

But as my eyes swept over the dining hall, there was no sign of him. The familiar weight of disappointment settled in my chest.

Hudson should’ve been here to put Karl in his place, to assert our dominance and maintain order.

Instead, I could only imagine where he might be—off in some corner, flirting with a wolf from another pack or drowning himself in another drink. Mason wasn’t far from Hudson.

Mason caught my gaze and shrugged. Typical Hudson. Always shirking the duties, leaving me to pick up the pieces, to step into the role of peacekeeper when things went south.

My jaw tightened, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. This wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. But right now, I couldn’t afford to dwell on Hudson being irresponsible.

There was a fight about to break out, and if I didn’t act quickly, it could escalate into something much worse.

“We need to stop this before it gets out of hand,” Beck said, his words cutting through my thoughts.

I turned to my younger brother, his eyes mirroring the same concern I felt. He was ready, poised to back me up, to step in and help defuse the situation. I knew Mason would do the same.

It was a comfort, knowing my two other brothers had my back, even when Hudson didn’t.

I gave Beck a curt nod, my mind already racing through the best way to approach this without making things worse.

Adrian’s wolves weren’t just here to stir trouble—they were looking for a weakness to exploit, a chance to make us look incompetent in front of the other packs.

And if we weren’t careful, they’d get exactly what they wanted. I pushed my chair back and stood.

The room seemed to hold its breath, every wolf in the dining hall watching, waiting to see what would happen next.

“Let’s go,” I told Beck.

Noah, who had been quietly watching from beside me, stood as well. “I’ll back you up as well,” he said.

The words, simple and confident, sent a jolt through me. My wolf stirred uneasily, growling in the back of my mind.

The thought of Noah stepping into this, of him getting involved in a fight that could quickly spiral out of control, tightened my chest with a fierce protectiveness I hadn’t felt in a long time.

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