THIRD POV.
The council meeting had ended, but the tension it left behind still clung to Gareth like smoke after a fire. Those particular words—“As your King”—still rang in his head, spoken so smoothly by Leander as if the crown had always been meant for him. Gareth couldn’t imagine the audacity of that man to dare consider himself king over anyone in his pack, much less him who was the alpha.
Gareth had sat there with his jaw tight and his hands still, forcing himself to remain composed while every elder in the room leaned toward Leander as if they had been waiting for him all along. He had wanted to stand, to shout, to rip the smug calmness off the man’s face, but that would have made him look like the unhinged challenger, not the rightful Alpha King.
And now, the silence of his office
