Maximus's POV
The silence in the room was thick enough to choke on.
Every Alpha sat rigid around the long oak table, their gazes darting, their postures deceptively still, but I could hear the truth beneath the surface. Their hearts drummed in uneven rhythms. Their wolves whispered restlessly inside them, tails tucked, ears flattened, every instinct screaming at them to tread carefully.
And I sat at the head, watching.
My hands rested loosely on the arms of my chair, but my stillness was a mask. Beneath it, my beast prowled. Every flicker of movement, every shift of breath, every scent of fear—they all scraped across my nerves like claws on stone.
The air carried tension and the faint musk of dominance, layered with undertones of sweat. Wolves did not lie, not in scent, not in presen
