The council chamber did not empty quietly.
Wolves filtered out with snarls under their breath, claws clicking against stone as the weight of Elaria’s decree rippled through the fortress like wildfire. Her words—sharp, irrevocable—hung in the air like blood in the water. She had invoked the healer’s right, the oldest law of survival, and by doing so she had bought Draven time… but she had also painted a target on her own back.
Eyes had turned on her with suspicion, with disbelief, with seething fury. They hadn’t looked at her as the healer of the Kaelith Pack—they had looked at her as the Alpha’s woman, using her power to shield the man she loved.
Elaria became aware of how her hands were shaking violently as the double doors slammed behind the final elder.
Her breath froze in her throa
