Chapter 441 - CH 441 — The Vote of No Confidence

Morning light poured through the towering stained-glass windows of the Council Hall, scattering muted shades of gold, sapphire, and crimson across the polished marble floor where generations of Alphas and Elders had stood before moments that determined the fate of the Pack, while the immense circular chamber remained wrapped in a solemn stillness broken only by the faint crackle of candles burning beneath the carved likenesses of those remembered as guardians of the realm, and every carved pillar surrounding the assembly carried the names of leaders who had once faced equally impossible choices, silently reminding those gathered that authority had never belonged to comfort but always demanded the courage to carry responsibility long after certainty had disappeared.