"Before the Council investigators arrive, I'll give you one last chance to confess your oath-breaking."
Darian adopted that insufferable I'm-only-trying-to-help tone, his scent deliberately muted to project false humility. "Once this blows up, you'll lose far more than some preliminary rite standing."
The Howl-Net chatter flooded in, praising him:
[The ML is too kind—even now he's giving the second lead a chance to confess.]
[He's SO pure-hearted. That's why he keeps rejecting the FL, because of her intended mate-claim with the villain.]
[These two destined wolves can't be together because of that TRASH. The FL has to practically beg him to accept her tribute offerings!]
[Can this pathetic simp just explode already?!]
I was starting to question these viewers' collective ability to scent deception.
If Darian were really the noble wolf they imagined, why was he entangled with Selene when he knew she bore another's mate-claim? His so-called "rejections" were textbook playing-hard-to-get, the kind of manipulation any experienced pack member could smell from a mile away.