ALEX POV
The room felt smaller with Vaden’s presence, like the air was thicker, filled with tension that clung to my skin. His smirking, his sly glances at Alice, the insinuation that I’d marked her without her consent—it was infuriating. Outrageous. Every muscle in my body was coiled tight, and I could feel Leo, my wolf, snarling just beneath the surface, barely held back by the thin thread of my control.
If it wasn’t for Alice’s soft presence next to me, practically glued to my side, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep it together. Just the warmth of her skin against mine, her calming scent, was the only thing keeping me from snapping, from shifting and challenging that arrogant King to a duel right then and there. My mind wandered for a second, imagining a whirlwind of fur and claws, a
