_Rowena's POV_
The elders refused to begin without their Alpha.
So for nearly three hours, they waited in the council chamber while Kaelen accompanied Virella to her prenatal examination.
By the time he returned, dawn had given way to morning. He entered with Virella on his arm and seated her beside him as though she already held an official place in Moonreign.
She did not.
But no one challenged him.
The Varkos family gathered near the Alpha's seat, while I sat alone at the opposite end of the table. The arrangement was meant to diminish me.
Instead, it clarified everything.
They were the family demanding my money.
I was the woman deciding whether they would receive it.
Kaelen's eyes paused on my high collar. He knew what it concealed. For half a second, something unreadable move
