Elias gave a quiet, incredulous laugh. "You're aware that sounds exactly like something an overbearing alpha would say in a bad romance novel, right?"
Victor didn't look at him, gaze still fixed on the stage. "If the writing's good, it sells."
Elias rolled his eyes, but before he could fire back, the shift in the air became impossible to ignore. The break hadn't even been called yet, but already heads were turning, murmurs passing between seats.
They weren't just staring at Victor's easy stride or the faint pull of the bond between them. They were measuring him and Elias right along with him.
The old Numen whispers seemed to thicken in the room, settling like smoke. That Victor's confinement had never been permanent. That he wasn't just a powerful alpha but something closer to the Numen God of the old stories. And now, with him walking, breathing confidence into the air, those rumors suddenly felt less like legend and more like fact.
