THORNE
The admission didn't just fall from my lips; it hung in the stagnant air like a physical, unbreakable bond, shimmering with a sudden, violent clarity. The realization crashed over me with the force of a tidal wave—I loved Althea. It wasn't the simple pull of a fated mate or the desperate need of a lonely man; I loved her for the fire that refused to be quenched and the stubbornness that mirrored my own. I loved her for the way she challenged the monster I had become and made me want to be worthy of the faith she'd somehow placed in a broken Hellhound who had forgotten how to be human.
The High Alpha stared at me, genuine shock fracturing his mask of indifference for the first time. "You're serious," he breathed, his eyes wide with a mix of pity and disgust. "You would truly let your brother, your Gammas, and the very future of your pack die... all for her?"
