Darius’s POV
The room felt heavier than usual, the silence hanging between Ivy and me like a storm waiting to break. She stood in front of me, arms crossed, her sharp gaze cutting through the layers of tension.
I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself under the weight of everything unsaid. “Why would you think I’d set aside my role as the future Alpha and become a hindrance to the clan? And what use is Alera to cause a rift between us?”
Ivy didn’t flinch, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Do you even hear yourself, Darius? Because the way you’ve been acting says otherwise.”
Her words stung because they weren’t wrong. My recent behavior wasn’t what the pack expected of an Alpha-in-training or what I expected of myself.
Everything had been clear until Alera appeared. The mate bond h
