Chapter 182

Nikolai

The scent of this place hadn’t changed. Not in decades.

It was fun while it lasted, this spec of power when we wanted to change things. It was just when Giovanni had become alpha when everything around us seemed to go from us to training. Just now being in charge of an entire pack of people, of an entire rule.

Leather, smoke, aged scotch, and that subtle undertone of blood that clung to the walls like wallpaper. Giovanni’s office. A place once filled with laughter, long hours, plans scrawled out on old maps… a place where two men built their dreams out of ambition. A place where we wanted to make our park and ground grow. He is my alpha and I am his beta. But the two of us were always equal as brothers despite their positioning.

Now, it reeked of betrayal. Now it’s streaked with blood, blood that I knew was of those who were innocent

I stepped through the tall doors, my boots heavy against the marble. The echo followed me in, along with t