Josiah
I sat in silence long after Niagra’s voice had faded from the room. His words still hung in the air like the echo of a curse: heavy, bitter, and impossible to ignore.
For the first time since taking the Alpha seat, I felt truly hollow. The fire in my chest, the pride, the conviction that everything I had done was for the pack, had gone cold.
I had told myself that every decision I made was justified. That protecting Crimson Pack, securing its borders, and enforcing loyalty were acts of leadership, not cruelty. But now… every face I had ordered to exile, every punishment I had inflicted in the name of power, came flooding back like a river of ghosts.
Standing at the mouth of that river was Mia, the one person who had never deserved my wrath.
“She sees you for what you are,” he
