It feels like the ground just gave way beneath my damn feet.
The official decree hangs in the air of the council hall, heavy and suffocating. Each word, spoken by Elder Maeve with a solemn finality, is another nail in my damn coffin. Stripped.
Temporarily, they keep saying, like that’s supposed to make it any better. Like the weight of it, the sheer humiliation, isn’t crushing me.
Zara stands beside my mother, bathed in the artificial light, her expression a mask of calm authority.
Acting Alpha. Zara... acting f*****g Alpha.
The words echo in the stunned silence of the hall. Then, one by one, the pack members bow. My pack.
Bending their damn knees to her.
Cyan snarls in my head, a raw, guttural sound that mirrors the rage clawing at my throat.
"Look at your kingdom, falling to
