The hall went dead silent the instant before she dropped.
Not reverent silence.
Not respectful silence.
The kind born from fear — the collective, instinctive kind — when something impossible tears through the air.
Rhea’s knees buckled.
But she never touched the floor.
My body moved before my mind could react. Instinct. Bond. Command. All of it surged at once.
One second she was standing beneath the crushing weight pouring off the Supremes and the Lycan Kings; the next, her entire body went slack like someone had ripped the air straight out of her lungs.
I caught her mid-fall. Arms around her waist. Chest to my chest. Anchoring her before her skull hit marble.
Her scent hit me like a punch — soft, sharp, threaded with dominance that shouldn’t have existed yet. It struck straight th
