Elijah
Ethan shuts his eyes for a second like he's weighing words against fallout. When he opens them, he pins father, not me. "The dinner can happen without a photo," he says. "The statement can say nothing, and there will be no denouncement. The Council will not get a request to sanction our own pack because we decided to score points."
Father's mouth flattens. "You cite law when it suits you," he says. "You ignore it when you want a feeling."
"I am citing law," Ethan says. "Charter §14.2, petitions for recognition outside wolf-species require a majority Council vote. We will draft one when we have the votes. Until then we will neither claim nor denounce. That is what the law allows."
"Good boy," Father says. It's meant to praise but it lands as something else.
Ethan doe
