Gaia’s frown deepened until it felt etched into her skull. She had been braced for the Elders to shut down Aurora’s interruption, to put that smug b***h in her place but no. One by one, they nodded.
They didn’t even argue.
In their minds, Alpha Rio’s death couldn’t just be a random tragedy. An Alpha didn’t “accidentally” fall. He didn’t keel over without a fight not in the middle of a war, not even in the throes of a blood duel. An Alpha, her Alpha, dying in such a way? The word “enemy” was already forming on their tongues.
Gaia felt her gut lurch, not from grief but from the sheer, seething frustration of her plan’s delicate edges starting to fray.
Her tears came on command. She dropped to the ground, rolling across the dirt in a wild display.
“Wicked people!” she shrieked, voice raw
