“No,” Axel cuts in, his voice low and dangerous in a way that makes the room still, “you are not.”
Alpha David finally speaks then, his voice measured but strained. “Daniel, enough.”
Daniel whirls on him. “Enough, David, your sons are blinded by instinct and emotion, they’re protecting her without understanding what she is, what she represents, and if you don’t act now you’re risking the entire pack.”
“I am acting,” Alpha David replies evenly, “by listening before condemning.”
Daniel laughs sharply, the sound brittle. “Listening to what, exactly, because I saw it, we all did, she stood under the red moon and the entire pack dropped to their knees, including you, and I will not kneel to anyone.”
My chest tightens at that, because even through the haze of exhaustion I remember it clearl
