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He ignores me, addressing Alina directly.

“Why have you come back, young wolf?”

She lifts her head, meeting the Alpha’s eyes with just the right balance of strength and respect.

“I have something I’d like to share with the pack. Something that I—that we, me and my Mate—need your help with.”

Deep down, I worry that my father might silence her. Perhaps he’ll pull her inside the house and chastise her for thinking she can march right back in here and demand his help.

But I know the man my father is. I know he is good.

So, when he lets out a long exhale and gestures for her to speak freely, I am not surprised, but I am relieved.

Not even the wind dares to move as Alina turns to face the crowd gathered before my father’s house, their numbers growing with each passing second as word spreads among the Greenbriars that one of their own has returned.

I stand just behind her, heart thudding with every breath, watching as the sunlight traps her in a brilliant halo. She's not trembling, not afraid.

She’s not hiding anymore. She’s claiming this moment, just as we have claimed each other.

Alina lifts her chin and begins to speak.

“My name is Alina Sinclair, and I am the daughter of the ElderSinclairs, who gave their lives in service of the Greenbriar pack fifteen years ago.” Her voice is clear and vibrant, like a perfectly strung violin. “I know most of you think you know who I am. I know the danger that you think I represent.”

Murmurs ripple across the crowd, but no one interrupts. Not with their Alpha watching them all with a keen expression on his weathered face.

She takes a breath, then another. “Ten years ago, I found out I was Rowan Greenbriar’s Mate.”

The words land like a stone at her feet.

I lock eyes with Cal, who is standing at the front edge of the crowd. His arms are crossed, and he’s taken on a stance that suggests he’s ready to jump into a fight, but it’s in sharp contrast to the surprise on his face. He’s looking at Alina in amazement. In awe.

And he’s not the only one.

Alina goes on. “I didn’t tell anyone, because I knew what that meant. The prophecy said that I would ruin him, and that I would bring ruination to the pack as a result of that. I knew that I destined to destroy my own people, so I left.”

There’s a shift in the crowd. A flicker of tension, old wounds tearing themselves open. I can feel the weight of it bearing down on her, and I’m desperate to reach for her, but Alina doesn’t need to be seen clinging on to me for support right now. She deserves to be able to stand on her own right now and claim her rightful place here.

“I thought I was doing the right thing when I ran,” she continues, voice loud and clear. “I thought I was protecting him—protecting all of you. But I didn’t know who I was running with.”

My chest constricts.

She turns to look at me, just for a second. Our eyes meet, and it’s like the rest of the world goes still.

“I found out I was pregnant about six weeks later.”

A ripple of tension tears through the crowd.

“I had a son. Rowan and I have a son. He is nine, and his name is Noah.”

When I glance over at Cal again, I swear I see tears in my Beta’s eyes. Again, he’s not alone.

I can barely breathe as I drink in the sight before me. So many gathered Greenbriars, hanging on to every word falling from Alina’s mouth. Not a single one of them looks angry or defensive, or like they might not believe her. They can taste the truth in what she says, can scent her conviction on the breeze.

Alina takes another deep breath. “He is exactly why I have returned to you today. Noah was taken today. By the Blackburns. I’m sure you know that they’ve been more active lately, and they’ve recently been able to infiltrate the Whiterose pack, where I have been all these years. That is why I need your help. Samson Blackburn has taken your future Alpha.”

A growl rips through the crowd at that name, low and dangerous.

This isn’t just shifter politics. This is about blood. There are few Greenbriars who haven’t felt the pain of grief thanks to the Blackburns over the years.