He did it with the practiced ease of someone who had been performing this role for long enough that it no longer required performance.
“The situation is straightforward,” he said. “The Apex has a mate. The first in three generations of this council. The political implications require us to address them formally and quickly, before the wider Pack world begins drawing its own conclusions and we find ourselves reacting instead of leading.”
“The political implications,” Kieran said, without looking up from his texts, “are secondary to the legal ones. An attempted forced claiming occurred on this council’s watch. Against the Apex’s mate. By a sitting member. We have not addressed that adequately.”
“We addressed it,” Kael said. Flat. Final. “Ashford’s on probation. Six months, no vote, no voi
