Utterly humiliated, I sprinted into the clearing, tears blurring my vision, and crashed headlong into a solid wall of muscle.
Menelik caught me just in time, his hands steady on my shoulders, preventing me from collapsing face down into the mud. I froze, forehead pressed against his chest, gasping as if the air might refuse to fill my lungs. My ribs ached with each breath, and my soul felt laid bare, exposed for him to see.
“Amani? What’s wrong?” His voice was calm, a steady anchor in the storm raging inside me.
At that moment, the dam shattered.
Words spilled from me. I told him about the Council’s decision, Zebub’s smug smile, how Vance looked at her as if I were just a forgotten ledger to be tucked away. I kept the secret of the Lycan’s bite, the horror my father had revealed, loc
