Rion’s POV
Everyone stayed frozen exactly where they were…like someone hit pause on the entire damn hall. Mouths open.
Eyes bugging. A few elders actually clutched their chests like they were about to keel over from the scandal. I didn’t care.
I hooked my arm around Ariella’s shoulder, leaned most of my weight into her like my legs had taken the beating instead of my face, and started limping toward the exit.
Tyler’s tired voice cut through the stunned silence behind me. “Alpha…you’re not supposed to be limping. It was your face that got punched.”
I winced…dramatically…rubbing my cheek even though the split lip was already knitting itself back together. “Hurts worse on the inside, Tyler.”
“Now you feel hurt?” He groaned somewhere in the background, long and suffering, like I’d perso
