DANTE’S POV
I couldn’t stay at that table another second. The moment Rowan opened his mouth and dared to challenge me in front of Selene I felt something inside me scorch. He could test his luck in front of the others, sure. But not in front of her. Not when I could feel her confusion, her pain, her loneliness clinging to the air around her like smoke.
She was isolated here, even if she pretended not to be. I could see it in her posture. In the way she avoided eye contact. In the way she kept her voice low so no one could overhear and twist her words. And she was looking for connection—I could sense her drifting toward the idea of companionship. The fact that it might be with Rowan my cousin made my wolf bristle and bare its teeth. Even if it was purely innocent, purely platonic—the idea
