*Landon’s POV*

Our food arrives, and we all happily dig into our meals. Enzo cuts his steak up into perfectly proportioned little pieces, while Xander is quietly munching on his salad. Mom ordered a similar salad to his, except hers has chopped up grilled chicken mixed in it. The rest of us carnivores hungrily chow down on our steaks.

Holy shit, this steak is really good. My knife cuts through it easily, as if it were sliding through a stick of soft butter. The outside is grilled to perfection, with a hint of pink left inside. I groan contentedly as I shovel my food into my mouth.

I'm so consumed by the taste of the steak, that I almost don't notice that the table has gotten really quiet. I glance up and see my parents fidgeting, and I know they're having a private conversation in their mind link. That is, I thought it was a private conversation until Lia's eyebrow raises of them, effectively tipping me off that she's a part of their mental conversation. I look at Enzo and Xander, who also have their eyes locked on our parents. My silverware clangs on my plate as I set them down with a sigh.

"If you have something to say, just say it," I tell them. Mom's eyes widen slightly, as if surprised that I caught on so quickly. "Seriously, it's annoying to sit here while the five of you talk about me in your mind link."

"We're not talking about you," dad quickly clarifies.

"Not directly," Lia grumbles, making our father glare at her.

"We're not talking about you," he says again pointedly. "We're just... trying to decide how to bring something up with you. Which, I can see now was stupid to even try and do over the mind link. I'm sorry." Mom shoots him a look, and I know she's scolding him over their mind link.

Annoyance hits me. It fucking sucks that they can communicate with each other without me hearing anything. The mind link is only available to members of the same pack, and mates who have completed the mating process by marking each other. When I was kicked out of the pack, my connection to the mind link was severed. Leaving me on the outs whenever my family decides to have a 'private' meeting when I'm sitting at the same fucking table. The only mind link I have now is the personal one with Leo, but obviously that's no use to me anymore.

"Well, what is it?" I question, trying to keep the snap out of my tone. My parents exchange another look, and mom nods.

Dad takes a deep breath and looks back at me. "Leon's coronation is in two weeks."

My body stiffens, and I freeze. Is it.... is it really already time for Leon to take over? I knew he had been training and preparing to be Alpha for the past fives years while Silas temporarily lead in his place....

I just can't believe it's already time for Easton's younger brother to take over as Alpha.

"His twenty-second birthday just passed," mom says softly. "Silas believes he's ready to assume the responsibilities of Alpha."

His twenty-second birthday.

Meaning Leon is now the same age that Easton was when he died.

Mom watches me knowingly, with sadness in her eyes. "That's not all...." she clears her throat. "They... they're going to introduce his mate as Luna at the coronation."

"W-What?" I breathe out, barely above a whisper.

"Leon found his mate, Roselyn, a few months ago when Silas took him on a tour of the neighboring packs. She's the daughter of the Beta from the Crescent Sun Pack."

I've heard of that pack. I mean, I've heard of every pack. I was Luna for two years, which meant I had to be familiar with all the political nonsense. From what I remember, the Crescent Sun Pack is a pretty decent pack. Their leaders are kind, and they haven't stirred up any issues that I know of. A part of me feels relieved that the next Luna of the Silver Woods Pack is from a nice pack. But another part — a much bigger part — is angered that they are introducing a new Luna.

It's ridiculous that I'm angry, I know it is. It has been five years since I was stripped of my title as Luna and tossed out. They can't go on forever without a Luna. And if Leon is to be Alpha, then his mate is the obvious Luna. And yet... the anger is still there. Maybe because for the past five years, I've stupidly held onto the hope that Silas and Celeste would re-open their arms to me, and welcome me back to the pack. I've clung to the foolish idea that they would realize that I wasn't responsible for Easton's death.

But that's impossible.

Because I was.

"There's one more thing," my father starts, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. "The entire pack is invited to the coronation. Roselyn reached out to us personally to invite our family." His eyes lock on mine, and my breathing stops. No. No way. It's not possible. There's no way my dad meant it like that. There's just no way.

But the next sentence out of his mouth disproves those thoughts, making me crumble inside.

"Our entire family."