Oops! The 5-Year-Old Dud Saved the Pack!

Elsie is the youngest daughter of Blackwood Alpha Kane and Luna Selena. Her eleven siblings show wolf strength; she asks for another butter cookie. The pack calls her a dud. She lets them. In her past life she was Mavara, the Alpha Queen who united all seven packs and worked herself to death at ninety-three. This time she wants no duties and no expectations.

Varek, the Lycan King's Royal Assistant, arrives at Blackwood. He mocks Elsie and announces a royal inspection of the pack's defenses the next morning. He predicts failure because of her. Kane treats it as a threat to the whole pack. He orders Elsie locked in the old storage shed so the crown delegation never sees her. Selena calls the shed freezing. Julian, Elsie's brother, promises to bring her out once it is over. Elsie does not mind; she wanted to do nothing anyway.

The next morning, her sister wakes Elsie and says they have to run: the royal inspection went wrong, and Varek will take Elsie too. They run. On the way, Elsie sees her mother and father captured. They hide behind a large tree. Varek charges Kane with treason, claiming Blackwood assembled forces to overthrow the crown. Kane denies it, insists the pack is loyal, and demands to see the Lycan King. Varek holds up a crown order. Elsie recognizes the document: the swoosh on the wolf-head seal is backward. The order is forged. Varek refuses Kane's demand and orders him to drink wolfsbane. Selena begs for Kane's life. Varek threatens that every member of the pack will be dragged before the crown tribunal once Kane is dead. Kane offers to drink the poison if Varek lets his family go. Varek refuses and decides to take Elsie too.

Elsie has been playing the useless dud, but the pack is about to die. She steps out from behind the tree. Varek notices her and asks what she is doing out there; her sister says she could not stop her. Varek decides to haul Elsie off with the rest. Kane tells her to run. Varek taunts her. Elsie points to the wolf-head seal. "It's fake." The swoosh is backward. Forging the Lycan King's crown order is a death sentence. The forged order is exposed in front of the pack.

From there, Elsie stops hiding. The Alpha Queen in her uses past-life knowledge to outsmart generals, uncover the royal conspiracy behind the forged order, and save the Blackwood Pack.