Chapter 79:

The whispers follow me like a shadow.

Every step I take through the corridors of the Golden Crest packhouse, I feel the weight of their stares.

Conversations hush when I pass, but the lingering tension in the air tells me enough.

The council meeting had barely ended before the news of my mating with Caspian spread through the entire pack like wildfire.

Or rather, like poison.

I can see it in their faces—thinly veiled disgust, suspicion, resentment.

Someone didn't just spread the truth; they twisted it into something ugly.

They believe I'm using Caspian, that I played the hero last night only to earn his favor, all while secretly working to bring Golden Crest to ruin.

Fools.

"Let them talk," Aries scoffs in my mind. "The opinions of weak-minded fools are of no consequence."

I don't respond. I'm too exhausted for another argument with my wolf.