"Gamma Thorne... you...what?" Elder Kaelith blinked.

  "She wouldn't be without protection," Jax said. "If the issue is her status, she'd be bound to me. Permanently. And I'm part of this pack. Your third. Part of the royal family. That makes her yours."

  One of the elders snorted. "A convenient solution."

  "A binding one," Jax countered. "You'd get your peace. Your order. And she'd stay protected."

  The room erupted in argument, negotiation, and calculation.

  Fin said nothing, without a flicker of expression on his face. But inside was a storm.

  "Charming. That still doesn't cancel the fact that this would drag our pack into a war. Stop thinking through your pants and start thinking through your head," Elder Greyborne snarled.

  The silence snapped like a bowstring.

  "Gamma Thorne," Elder Rhun continued on Greyborne's thought, eyes narrowing. "You don't even know her that well."

  Jax didn't flinch.

  "I indeed do. I've spent time with her since she arrived and I care for her deeply. She's what I want. Even before this meeting was called. I was going to claim her."

  A bead of sweat formed on Fin's temple. Hearing Jax say those words made his stomach drop. Jealous rage started to boil inside him.

  He turned to look at Jax, but then froze. Jax meant it and was his very best friend.

  "You claim her just to shield her. A chosen mate with no love..." Elder Luceris began.

  Cael cut him off, sharp and unimpressed. "The memory in this room makes goldfish look like scholars. Didn't you all just tell Fin to mark Meredith without love like it was a seasonal chore?"

  The chamber burst into murmurs of justification.

  "Don't let your lust cloud your judgment, Gamma Thorne," snapped Elder Kaelith. "You're young, and she's—beautiful, yes. But beauty doesn't make her a luna for your house."

  Jax's jaw flexed.

  "This isn't lust," he said, voice calm but unflinching. "Everyone in this chamber knows I've already felt the fated bond with Cira. This is not something I would take lightly."

  More whispers.

  "Gamma Thorne, what happened to your mate... to my niece was a tragedy. We all support you in this pack. But I implore you not to make a rash decision being a hero to this girl. The fated bond is sacred and nothing compares to it. Don't disrespect your past bond by comparing it to a flame you feel with a girl." Elder Briant spoke, in a tone of disbelief.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Jax took a breath.

  "I am not disrespecting my past bond. I've thought about Cira everyday for the past 5 years and when I close my eyes, I still see her."

  His voice cracked, but he steadied and continued. "I feel something deeper for Nova. I wouldn't say this in a council meeting of all places if I didn't mean it. What I feel from her is stronger than that. I can't put it into words."

  The council erupted into protest again.

  "She's not even of noble blood—"

  "She has no training—"

  "She doesn't have a family name—"

  "She's a bastard —"

  "She's not worth starting a war for —"

  But Jax stood there, solid, silent, letting the storm crash around him. Like a mountain in a sea of wind.

  Fin said nothing. Stunned. His wolf spoke in his mind.

  Xeon: He is claiming her the way we should be. You need to claim her.

  Inside him, something was unraveling. Tearing loose. Something he wasn't ready to name.

  Jax. His Gamma. His brother in arms. Best friend since they were infants.

  The man who had carried his bloodied body out of a collapsed battlefield.

  The man who stood with him when his father passed.

  The man who never spoke of his fated mate, not since the day she died.

  Fin had watched him disappear into himself for years after that.

  And now... now Jax was standing in front of twelve elders, claiming an omega with no rank, no name, no allies. As his mate. Fierce and loyal.

  Because of what he felt. He wouldn't do that for any other reason.

  Because of her.

  He was doing what Fin should have done.

  If only he could have claimed her right when he saw her in the tower. She would be living in the his quarters. She would be sitting at this council meeting. She would be his everything.

  But alas, the reality was she didn't even know she was his fated mate. He hasn't spoken more than a few words to her since she arrived.

  In fact, he's avoided her trying to run away from the fact that he has a fated mate.

  He even at one point considered somehow breaking the mate bond once she came of age and everything would be fine. Even though he knew he could never do that.

  Yet Jax claimed her. They were in different situations granted, but Jax did what Fin didn't. And Jax was the best man he knew.

  His wolf spoke in his mind angrily.

  Xeon: You cower behind duty and do not claim her. This is not how this is supposed to be.

  Another elder scoffed. "This does your family no good, Gamma Thorne. A mate who will bring a gamma heir must come from nobility. That's the only way the heir will be respected. Shame your bloodline, and you shame your son the day he takes your seat."

  Jax's gaze didn't waver. "My father didn't fight and die for bloodlines," he said evenly. "And I certainly didn't fight two wars just to have a council tell me who I can or cannot claim as my mate."

  He paused, letting that settle.

  "She's proven her worth tenfold," Jax continued, voice unwavering. "She saved my life today when she had every reason to run. But she didn't. That's the kind of wolf I want beside me."

  He let his gaze sweep across the room. His voice was fierce and gamma aura unleashed. Every eye was on him.

  "Bloodlines always start with a no one who became someone history remembered."

  Then Elder Duroth's voice cut through the silence, loud and biting.

  "You're really willing to tie your future to an omega bastard of Ashbane? All because of how she looks? You do realize she's likely illiterate... right? Not to mention whether she can even provide you with an heir."

  Jax didn't flinch. He would protect her, because no one else had, and because she deserved that. She wasn't going to face this alone anymore. Not while he still breathed.

  "Do not call her illiterate. She's strikingly intelligent," he said, voice sharp. "Every time I find her, she's buried in a book in the library."

  His Gamma aura was thickened. Even Fin could feel it pressing into his skin like heat off a forge.

  "And she is not Ashbane blood. Someone—please, for the love of the gods—write that into the damn records already. We've said it six times today."

  He let the sarcasm settle, then leveled his gaze.

  "Yes. She's what I want. She's meant to be mine. I feel it. And any insult to her is an insult to me."

  He drew in a breath, slower this time, then added unshakable:

  "I love her."

  After that Council showdown, where do your loyalties lie?