The confrontation in the courtyard was a study in absolute stillness. Killian stood beside me like a coiled spring, his muscles tense and his Alpha aura fighting a losing battle against the dampening field of the Aegis pylons. Silas remained in the shadows of the transport, his ivory mask catching the dim, artificial light of the dome. And the twins... they just watched from the ramp, their small faces devoid of the wonder and joy they used to possess. They looked at their grandmother not with love, but with the analytical detachment of survivors.
"You destroyed every single thing that mattered," I said, stepping toward her across the carpet of ash. Each footfall on the blackened ground felt like a fresh betrayal of the ancestors buried beneath us. "You sold your pack to the Initiative
