Chapter 15 · Still Archivist

"Hand over the seal, Rowan. Council's vote."

Voss had his palm flat on my ledger before I even looked up. Ink still wet on the page I'd been sealing — the port registry, forty years of trade lines Callum's grandfather had signed his name to.

"No," I said, and pulled the book out from under his hand.

"It's not a request. Council says a rejected mate can't certify the Alpha's own election. Conflict of interest." Voss said it like he'd rehearsed it in the mirror.

"Nobody called it a conflict of interest when they wanted my signature on the wedding contract." I closed the ledger and held it against my chest like it could stop a bite. "Get out of my archive."

"It's the pack's archive."

"Then the pack can come pry it out of my hands."

The door hit the wall a second time. Callum walked in wearing the face he used to wear right before he told a room full of investors exactly what they wanted to hear.

"Voss. Out."

Two words. Voss went, because that's what Betas do when an Alpha uses that voice —