The council chamber feels colder than it should, and I cannot tell whether that is the stone leaching heat from the air or my own nerves tightening every muscle in my body, because even after everything that has happened, this room carries a different kind of weight. Battles are loud and immediate and brutal in a way that leaves little room for doubt once they are over, but councils move slowly, and the damage they do often takes longer to surface.
Adam walks beside me as we enter, not touching but close enough that I feel the steady presence of him through the bond, a quiet anchor in a space designed to unsettle. The chamber is already crowded, long table filled with Alphas from across the district, their scents overlapping in sharp, territorial layers that make the air feel thick and wa
