Sera's POV
Gideon surged up from his chair, his tall frame looming over the table as he caught my wrist and pulled me firmly against his side. The dark, suffocating weight of his Alpha aura flared anew, wrapping around me like armor.
"You have nothing to prove to these men," he growled, his voice deep, gravelly, and tight with protective rage.
I looked up into his fierce, amber eyes and swallowed hard. "I know," I whispered back, keeping my voice low so it didn't carry across the quiet hall. "But it will always be a question someone asks, Gideon. It will always be the shadow hanging over us. I have to tell my story."
Just not everything, I added through our bond, letting him feel the fierce, unyielding boundary in my mind. I wasn't going to give them my bloodline. I wasn't going to giv
