STONEVALE PACK
For a moment, Janet said nothing.
Then she laughed.
It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t amused.
It was dry—sharp at the edges, like something that had long since lost patience.
Darren didn’t like it.
“You ruined everything, Darren,” she said.
The words came out calm, but there was something beneath them now—something colder, something that hadn’t been there before.
Darren’s eyes narrowed.
Janet shook her head slightly, as if the explanation itself was exhausting.
“You should have left it alone,” she continued. “What was done was done. The council made their decision. The boy was banished... disowned. He was no longer a threat to you. That should have been the end of it.”
Her gaze lifted to meet his again.
“But you couldn’t let it end there. You never do.”
Darren’s jaw tig
