The council room had never felt so small. The walls seemed to press in around us, heavy with silence, heavy with the truths that had been flung across the table one after another. Thomas was dead, but his shadow lingered. His cruelty had reached past his last breath, stretched into our lives even now. The letter sat in the center of the table, its edges curling slightly, as if it burned from the weight of the words it carried. Hired assassin. Hayden and Xander as the targets. Hayden’s breathing was still unsteady, sharp gasps against the heel of his hand. Xander’s jaw was tight, his eyes narrowed to slits as he held his mate close. Thorne stood behind them like a mountain, protective, angry, his hand flexing and curling as if he wanted something to fight. I could feel the anger in him, ban
