★AZRAEL★
The council chamber was already tense when I arrived. The elders sat in their usual arrangement, their faces set with the particular stubbornness of old men who believed their years entitled them to opinions I had never asked for. I took my seat and waited for the first blow to fall.
It came from Elder McCarthy, as it so often did.
"Alpha King, we must address the matter of succession. Again."
I folded my hands on the table. "We addressed it last week. And the week before. My position has not changed."
"Your position may not have changed," another elder said, "but circumstances have. You have been married over a month. Your wife lives, which we acknowledge is... unusual. But living and producing an heir are not the same."
I felt my jaw tighten. "My wife is not a broodmare. She is the Luna of this pack. You will speak of her with respect."
