The Alpha Rejected Me, His Father Claimed Me
Somewhere near the back, an elder murmured something to a companion, and the words 'unprecedented' and 'scandal' drifted forward just clearly enough to reach her.
Valthor looked at her then, really looked, for the first time since the rejection, and whatever he saw in her face seemed to cost him something. His jaw tightened. His eyes moved from her to his father and back again, cataloguing a version of events he clearly hadn't prepared for, hadn't imagined possible, hadn't once considered when he'd stood on that hillside yesterday and traded her away for the easier future Calista represented.
"Retract it," he said, quieter now, which was somehow worse than shouting. "Retract the claim. Now.