Judgement!

Just before Tanner drives through the gates, his phone vibrates again for what feels like the twentieth time.

He grabs it, irritation bubbling under his skin, and snaps, "Dad, I'm here!" before ending the call.

The gates slide open.

He steps on the gas, the engine roaring as if mirroring his storming thoughts. The tires crunch on gravel, and when he parks, he slams the door shut harder than necessary.

His fists are clenched. His chest tight. The conversation with Jess replays in his mind, raw and unresolved, leaving him wired and off-balance.

Inside the pack house, he doesn't hesitate. His boots echo sharply on the floor as he strides toward the council hall.

The heavy doors swing open.

Heads turn.

Silence falls like a blade.

The tension inside is suffocating. The elders are seated, border guards line the walls, and all eyes lock on Tanner , then shift behind him. Expectation ripples across the room like a current.

"Where is Luna?" his mother asks, her voice slicing through the hush.

"He's not feeling well," Tanner replies, too quickly, too flatly. The moment the words leave him, he feels it.

The room stills.

"He?" someone echoes. Then more voices: "He?!"

Tanner's stomach drops. Damnit! "I mean, she. She's not feeling well. Sorry." He swallows and straightens. "What's going on?"

He scans the room, grounding himself in procedure.

But then his eyes land on two men stand in the judgment circle. One looks petrified, the other broken, his eyes glassy, mouth set, like someone who's already been sentenced. Shame clings to them like a second skin.

An elder stands, gesturing. Tanner's gut coils tight before a single word is spoken.

"Alpha Hale," the man begins, voice steeped in disgust, "even at your young age, you knew how to punish this kind of disgrace in our pack. But apparently, it wasn't enough of a lesson. These two..." his voice cracks, and he turns away as if the sight alone repulses him, "they were... together. With each other. Romantically."

The elder nearly spits the last word.

Tanner's throat tightens. Heat rises up his neck. His vision narrows slightly around the edges. But he keeps his expression locked, jaw clenched.

He can't breathe.

His father's voice booms across the room, sharp as a blade. "Unbelievable! This abomination has repeated itself? And now with grown men?! Not kids this time!"

Tanner doesn't move. The words are knives. Every one of them cuts.

"We made a mistake letting the two boys go last time," his father continues. "We thought mercy would contain it. But now? It's spread. This is contagion!" His voice rises. "Especially that one who escaped! That one's still out there. And I want him found! Him and the other one that was sold, bring all four here!"

He pounds his fist on the table. "I don't care where they're hiding. They'll face real punishment."

Tanner's chest tightens, ribs constricting like bands of steel. He can't draw a full breath. But he stands still, silent.

"I don't understand!" his father yells. "What could a man possibly see in another man? What would you miss in a woman to do something so sick?! Tell me!" He turns on the two men. "Is it an evil spirit in you? Some twisted craving?"

The room crackles with tension. Rage. Disgust.

Tanner's legs feel like they could give out any second. He doesn't even realize his hand is clutching the back of a chair until his knuckles turn bone-white.

His chest tightens, lungs refusing to take in air. His heart slams so hard he feels it behind his eyes, pounding, blinding, relentless.

Flashes from last night invade his mind, uninvited and unforgiving. Jess beneath him, their bodies tangled like they were made to fit, his lips pressed to Jess's like breathing depended on it.

The way he clung to him, desperate, like letting go would mean losing a part of himself. Jess moaning his name. Him groaning in return, confessing everything in a voice wrecked by pleasure.

He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to block it out, but it only becomes clearer. The taste of Jess's skin. The way he bit his lip. The tremble in his own thighs when he released into him, completely lost in him.

A silent curse tears through his mind as his eyes snap open, rage and panic curling in his chest like a storm ready to burst.

His father gestures toward him, smug. "Look at my son, so stunned, he's speechless."

"I agree," another elder chimes in. "All four men must be brought back. They cannot infect the rest of the pack with this... sickness."

More nods follow.

Then they turn to him.

"Alpha, what do you say? We know this is a shock, but your voice is needed."

The room waits.

Tanner opens his mouth but no words come.

What can he say? That they're right? That these men deserve punishment for loving who they love? That they're sick?

Not after Jess.

Not after the way he kissed him. Craved him. Claimed him.

His body remembers Jess's warmth, the taste of his mouth, the way Jess whispered his name with trembling need. A man. His Luna.

The panicked man in the judgment circle suddenly drops to his knees.

"Alpha, please! I confess, please, forgive us. It was a mistake. A one-time thing we were drunk, we weren't thinking!"

Tanner flinches.

Shame. Begging. Self-erasure.

And still he says nothing.

Because if he speaks now... if he says the wrong thing, he'll be lying.

And if he says the right thing...

He'll expose everything.