"Alpha Alexander is dead?" I whispered, the question barely audible even to my own ears.
The reality of it crashed over me in waves. First Lucian's father, killed by my shadows. Now Alexander.
Two pack leaders, gone in less than a week.
And somehow, impossibly, I was connected to both deaths.
"This is your fault!" Valeria's voice cut through the stunned silence like a whip crack. Her face was twisted with a fury I'd never seen from her before, not even during her worst bullying campaigns. "You're a bad omen! In less than a week, two of our alphas have died, and every single time, you've been there!"
Her words hung in the air for a heartbeat before others began to pick up the refrain.
"She's right," someone called out from the crowd that had gathered. "First the Silverclaw alpha, now ours. How is that a coincidence?"
"Shadow lycans were driven out and killed for a reason," another voice added, shakier but no less accusatory. "They bring death wherever they go."
