I let out a long, heavy sigh, the stench of the room and the sight of his pathetic state mixing into a knot of cold disappointment in my stomach.
"What happened, Ethan?" I asked, keeping my voice cool, steady, and entirely detached. "The elders say you're not doing your Alpha duties. Your father would be disappointed."
At the mention of his father, Ethan flinched as if I had physically struck him. The proud, unyielding Alpha who used to command this entire territory seemed to shrink even further into himself. He looked down at his trembling hands, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping his chapped lips.
"My father..." he choked out, shaking his head. "He wouldn't even recognize me."
He looked back up at me, his eyes swimming with a desperate, fractured light. "After you accepted my rejection,
