My heart was thundering, but my face stayed as calm as stone. I couldn't show how badly my palms itched to hold María José's again, how much I wanted to wipe the fire from Rosa's smug expression and replace it with fear. Not just any fear. The kind of fear only truth could bring.
Then came the moment we'd both expected.
The Alpha stood… My father.
The room stiffened like a spine under pressure. His black suit glistened like oil under the chandeliers. His gray eyes swept the hall like a war general surveying a battlefield. People sat straighter, some with heads bowed. Others, like me, met his stare and gave nothing back.
He didn't just carry authority in his aura.
He wore it like cologne. It was intense, suffocating, and designed to make everyone feel small.
"Enough," he bellowed, voice like thunder before a lightning strike. "This little show of yours has gone far enough, María José."
