Chapter 72. Invitation to Treachery

Lotus’s POV

The messenger arrives at dawn.

He is half-frozen, and his cloak is torn and stained with ash. By the time the guards bring him to the war room, he’s barely standing. I recognize the sigil on his arm, it is the sun and spear emblem of the Summer Pack, before he collapses to his knees.

“Speak,” Lennox orders. His tone makes me jump.

The man lifts his head, and his eyes are hooded with exhaustion. “An invitation,” he rasps, holding out a sealed letter. “From Alpha Cassian of the Summer Pack. He requests the presence of the Winter Alphas and their Luna… at a summit to discuss peace.”

The room stills.

Levi lets out a quiet, humorless laugh. “Peace? Now they want to be our friends?”

Louis moves forward, taking the letter carefully. He breaks the seal open, scanning the neat, slanted script. Then he looks up at me with a grim expression. “It’s genuine. The Summer Pack wants to host a council. The Alpha says the fighting has gone