McKenna swore after the first encounter with Alpha Azeo that she would never show weakness again.
Never tremble.
Never break.
Never let her voice waver before power that tried to cage her.
But she did.
At the ceremony, she let him humiliate her — again.
She’d stood there, eyes lowered, jaw tight, pretending it didn’t cut into her like silver. Pretending that obedience wasn’t another form of surrender. She took it all like the weakling they all saw her to be.
Then came the chaos. The ceremony’s perfect illusion shattered — her banishment, her spell, her power bursting like wildfire — yet even then, she obeyed.
Even then, she still looked at him like he was more than a man.
Like he was fate.
And she hated herself for it.
She told herself it was confusion. That was her excuse. But
