TLESSI’S AURA OF CALM didn’t change when Aalyan told them he wanted to talk about Jave. He was invited to sit on the ground by the Jaguar’s tree—it was getting harder to lower himself to the ground gracefully with the added weight on the front, so he knelt first instead, rubbing at his belly to soothe the babies.
“How could he do it?” he wanted to know. Needed, really. It felt like the world had rewritten itself, the laws of the packs had once seemed the laws of Nature, yet an alpha had attacked him.
And his own alpha had surrendered to him. And, of course, Aalyan was an alpha himself, even if only partly so.
“Do you know why alphas do not normally act aggressively towards omegas?” he was asked.
“Because it’s forbidden.”
Tlessi shook their head. “No, those are the laws we make, but th
