Elara's POV
I looked at him.
Those deep blue eyes used to undo me. Now they just made my stomach turn.
He'd asked the question so seriously, as though the proof hadn't been right in front of him all along.
The monitor. Landon's warnings. Mia's heart stopping. The color draining from her face. The Lycan Council's own findings.
None of it had gotten through to him.
Nothing ever had—not once in all the years I'd spent trying.
Something inside me went quiet.
It had all been pointless.
I had nothing left to waste on him. Not my anger. Not my grief. Not one more word.
I laughed, and the sound came out strangely light.
"I don't have any proof, Alpha Orion. You're right. Samuel and I were wrong."
I lowered my head in a deep bow.
"Our apologies."
Orion went still.
For a moment, somet
