"I won't tell anyone," Mia said.
The words left her before she'd fully finished deciding to say them, and once they were out, she felt the shape of what she'd just done settle over her like a weight she couldn't put back down. Kade's grip on her wrist eased, not releasing her entirely, just loosening into something closer to holding on rather than clinging.
"You understand what you're agreeing to," he said quietly. "If the Council ever learns you knew and said nothing, they won't treat you as an innocent bystander. Concealing an Alpha's instability from the pack is treason under the old laws. Not a fine. Not a censure. Treason."
"I know what treason means, Kade."
"I don't think you fully understand what it costs." His eyes searched hers, something like guilt threading through the despe
