Josiah
The quiet in the council room had become unbearable. It wasn’t the kind of silence born from peace, but one that suffocated. It was thick, stagnant, and restless. The kind that made even the shadows tremble.
I sat at the head of the long oak table, the weight of the Alpha’s crest pressing heavy against my chest. It had once meant power, respect… dominion. Now it felt like a collar.
My mind was supposed to be on the reports before me, new land divisions, patrol routes, trade routes across the borders, but all I could see was her.
Mia.
Every word my gamma spoke faded into a blur, every sound turned to static. The memory of her face, of her eyes, those same eyes that once looked at me with something like faith, haunted me. There was no escaping them. Even now, they hovered over th
