Cyril’s POV
The council chamber smelled of ink and old wood. The air was heavy with the voices of men who liked to argue just to hear themselves speak or argue to prove themselves right. Their noise rose and fell, but I can barely heard them. My mind was not here. It kept going back to Ella.
This was my fault. I knew it. I had put her in danger. If I had not let her disguise herself as a help. . .if I had done my duty as Alpha, she would not have been a target. And Hans, the fool of her ex, would not have been the one standing in her defense. The thought of him near her at all burned in me.
My hand tightened on the armrest of the chair until the wood creaked.
“Alpha, you are gripping the chair too hard,” Marcus’s voice came through our link.
I ignored Marcus. My chest felt tight with
