MOONLIT FANGS

Punishment

The joint council between the Calloway and Ashford packs convened a week later.

The formal meeting hall was a drafty, wood-paneled room neither family had used in years, reserved for rare occasions when pack law required more than a phone call.

Rhys walked in slower than usual, favoring his right side. Sebastian walked close enough that their shoulders brushed. Milo and Talia flanked his left, completing a tight front that Rhys hoped looked more solid than he felt.

Across the room, the Ashford pack elders sat in a grim row. In the middle of them, looking entirely hollowed out, sat Grier. He had lost the loud, aggressive posturing Rhys had spent three years reading as confidence.

Stripped of his armor, Grier looked exactly like what he was underneath: young, terrified, and out of his depth.

"Alpha Calloway," the head of the Ashford council said stiffly. "We understand you wish to speak before formal judgment is passed."

"I do," Rhys said. He took a slow breath to steady his ribs. "But first, I think Grier needs to tell everyone the truth, not just what he did. Why."

The room went completely quiet. Grier's head snapped up.

"Rhys—" his voice was a thin scratch. It's okay," Rhys said, his voice dropping, keeping his eyes locked on Grier.

"You don't have to keep pretending anymore. Not here. Not about any of it."Grier seemed to shrink into his chair.

For a long moment, the only sound in the hall was the hum of the old fluorescent lights. Then, in a voice completely missing his usual booming bravado, Grier began to speak.

"I'm not an Alpha," he said, staring down at his knuckles. "I never have been. I'm an Omega. I spent three years faking it because I was terrified of what would happen if anyone found out."

A sharp wave of muttering broke out across the Ashford side. Rhys watched the elders closely; to his relief, the shock on their faces looked more like concern than cruelty.

"That's not why I did it, though," Grier continued, his hands beginning to shake.

"I did it because I've been in love with Rhys since first year. I never told anyone. I never told him. Somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that picking fights was the only way I'd ever get to touch him. When he chose someone else... when I watched him fall in love with a vampire right in front of me, I snapped. I told myself it was about pride. Pack honor. It wasn't. It was just jealousy, and I almost killed him for it."

Grier stopped, burying his face in his palms. His shoulders twitched silently.

Sebastian’s hand found Rhys's under the table, his grip tight enough to bruise.

Rhys could feel the vampire's predatory focus radiating off him, entirely cold and unyielding even in the face of the truth.

Grier wiped his face, forcing his eyes up

. "I'm not saying this to excuse it. Nothing excuses a silver blade. I just wanted it said before you decide what to do with me. I wanted the real reason out there, not some fake story about a pack rivalry."

Rhys stepped forward, ignoring the dull pull of the stitches in his flank.

"I'm not going to pretend you didn't nearly destroy everything," Rhys said clearly. "I almost died. Sebastian almost lost me. Our packs almost went to war over your jealousy. That's real, and you have to answer for it."

Grier nodded once, staring at the floor. But," Rhys continued, "locking you away or exiling you doesn't fix a thing. You spent three years terrified of your own nature until it turned into something toxic. The pack you grew up in failed you long before you picked up that knife, Grier. They made you believe an Omega should be ashamed."

Several Ashford elders shifted uncomfortably, but Rhys didn't give them room to interrupt. Here is what I want instead of blood. Grier steps down from his Alpha title publicly and starts living as who he actually is. He undergoes strict pack oversight—counseling, therapy, whatever it takes. And he stays away from Sebastian and me. Indefinitely. If he breaks that distance, the full weight of pack law comes down without mercy. But I am not asking for execution. I’ve seen enough blood lately."

Sebastian’s fingers tightened further, his jaw locked in silent fury, but he didn't voice an objection.

The council took two hours to ratify the terms formally. The Ashford elders argued heavily, mostly trying to process the fact that their star Alpha prospect had been a closeted Omega for three years.

By the time the papers were signed, Grier was stripped of his rank, assigned a pack counselor, and bound under strict magical distance restrictions.

He approached Rhys right before the hall cleared, hesitant and small.

"Thank you," Grier whispered. "For not asking them to end me. I know I don't deserve it."

"You don't," Rhys said evenly. "But mercy isn't about what you deserve. It's about what kind of Alpha I'm going to be. Get help, Grier. Stop pretending."

Grier nodded, his throat working, and walked out of the hall. Rhys let out a massive breath, leaning his weight against the wall.

"You're a better man than I am."

Sebastian said quietly once they were alone in the corridor.

"I don't know if I could have given him that. Part of me still wants to tear his throat out."

"I know," Rhys said, turning his head to rest against Sebastian’s shoulder.

"You don't have to be over it. You almost lost your linker. That kind of panic doesn't just vanish because I made a speech."

"I keep seeing the blade," Sebastian admitted, his voice barely carrying in the empty hallway.

"One inch to the left, Rhys, and your heart—"

"But it didn't go to the left," Rhys interrupted firmly. He reached up, cupping Sebastian’s cold face in his hands.

"I'm right here. My heart is beating. Yours is too, which is still completely insane, by the way."A faint, genuine smile finally touched Sebastian's lips.

"It is rather strange, yes."

"Come on," Rhys said, tugging him toward the doors. "Let's go home. I want a real mattress, real food, and zero council meetings for the next week." "Agreed."

"Also, Milo's been texting me increasingly unhinged updates about that shark poster. He named it Kevin."

Sebastian huffed out a real laugh, threading his fingers through Rhys's as they hit the sunlight. The suffocating weight of the past week finally began to clear.

Told you, Fenn murmured, his mental voice warm and satisfied. The goddess doesn't miscalculate. You're both standing. That's the whole point of what you built."Fenn says we're going to be fine," Rhys murmured, squeezing Sebastian's hand. For once," Sebastian replied, "I won't argue with the wolf."