DARIAN
The council chamber empties around me, but I barely register the scrape of chairs or the shuffle of boots. My head is still in the fog it’s lived in since that night, the night I let Evelara in.
She was my mate, so I had fulfilled my duty, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like I made a mistake.
I don’t regret her exactly. I regret what I was trying to drown when I touched her.
The door shuts behind the last councilman. I rub my temples, but I’m not alone for long. Evelara walks in looking like she had won a trophy.
“Darian.”
I don’t lift my head. “Evelara.”
She crosses the room in three slow steps. “You’re busy as always.”
“Alpha business doesn’t stop for anyone," I reply, keeping my tone even.
“I’m not just anyone,” she says, close enough that her perfume fills the ai
