ine

ped onto the gravel, leaning heavily on Rose, a wave of exhaustion hit me. The adrenaline tha

salind, were waiting on the steps. Their expres

lse sympathy. She took my arm, and I flinched at the cold, dry touch of h

hief. A flicker of malicious glee in her eyes betrayed her performanc

said, looking past them to where he was alighting from

ave a kind heart. But Alpha Axel is... well, you know. Your father

public reminder of the decision she expected him to make. The nearby servants, pretending to be busy, were a

saccharine. "You can't be expected to marry a cripple

el. My father's face darkened. He did not apprec

movement was small, but it was a clear rejection. I let out a sof

u were evaluating potential mates for Rosalind. You said that the strength of their Pack

inted smile fr

t complaining last week that your own fiancé wasn't handsome enough? W

chy, furious red. She opened h

dn't know I possessed. "The Stormfang Pack has been wounded, but their foundations are strong. A

before my gaze landed squarely back on Serap

e that as my fiancé. I will not be the one t

k this engagement because you've already found a new, 'more valuable' match for me? Or is it that y

earing through her carefully const

white. "You... How dare you!" sh

urprise. And then, unmistakably, approval. He had n

s right. This is my decision to make. And until after the Boyle fami

on. A public state

ir faces masks of disbelief and im

mall, formal curtsy.

ming women on the steps, I turned and walk

as glass, in that moment, I felt taller than I ever had in my life. Behind me