Matteo
I am the Alpha of the Black Fangs, and I have spent my life mastering the art of the hunt. I know how to mask my scent, how to dampen the sound of my pulse, and how to become a ghost in my own halls. So, when I returned from the Council Chamber, I didn't burst through the doors with the roar of a betrayed king. I moved through the sub-levels of the sawmill like smoke, driven by a gnawing, instinctual need to find my mate.
I found her in the auxiliary gym.
I stayed in the darkness of the observation gallery, my boots silent on the rusted metal grating. Below me, the gym was bathed in the harsh, flickering glow of a single halogen lamp. I expected to see Aveline huddled in a corner, or perhaps weeping over the impossible choice the Council had forced upon us.
Instead, I saw a pred
