I studied him carefully and closely.
His tone, his posture, even his timing—none of it rang true. A wolf like Darius didn’t simply crawl from the shadows when his daughter faced exile. No. This was too clean, too rehearsed like he knew this day would come.
And Daphne’s reaction… that smile earlier was an expression of relief, the glimmer of recognition in her eyes when the voice had first called out. She had known he would come and save her.
This wasn’t desperation to survive.
It was a strategy to make me change my mind.
“You speak of failures,” I spoke slowly as I started circling him like a predator. “But tell me, Darius—where were you when your daughter schemed behind my back? When she poisoned me? When she attacked my child in my pack? When she made me lose my mate completely?”
H
