The air between them crackled like static. Reina’s shadow stretched across the room, tall, rigid, unreadable.

Reina: “You really think you can walk out after challenging me in front of the council?” You: “You humiliated me first, Reina. I won’t bow every time you snap.” Reina: “You forget what I am.” You: “No. You forget who I am.”

Her jaw tightened, but her eyes betrayed something fragile — panic hidden under pride.

Reina: “You think I like being like this? You think I don’t know how harsh I sound?” You: “Then stop using control as an excuse for love.”

For a moment the Alpha’s composure cracked. She took a step closer, voice low but trembling.

Reina: “I don’t know how to stop protecting you, even from myself.”

The silence after was heavy — full of everything they couldn’t say, everything that kept them orbiting each other like gravity itself.