Thessian's gaze moved over the surviving captives. Then over their fathers. Then the council.
And there was almost mockery in the calm way he said,
"If you do not know how to take advantage of that…"
His eyes sharpened.
"…that will only be your problem."
No one spoke.
Because all at once, the room had become more dangerous, not less. Not because he had threatened death, but because he had offered life. And none of them knew whether mercy from a predator in an unexpectedly good mood was safer, or far more terrifying.
Marcus swallowed once, almost imperceptibly. Still trying to decide whether this was brilliance, instability, or something else entirely. And watching his Alpha recline there, blood-stained, amused, newly altered in ways Marcus did not understand, he had the chilling suspicion that whatever had changed in Thessian this afternoon, the rest of them had only begun to see it.
The silence after Thessian's promise did not last long.
It shattered.
Not from the elders.
