A knock came at the door.
"You called for me, Alpha," Korran said stepping inside.
The words had barely left his mouth before Phoenix moved.
The slap landed like a crack of thunder, sending Korran across the room and into the counter at the far corner. The impact shook the furniture around it.
Blood came from his nose, his mouth, the corner of his eye. He gathered himself from the floor slowly, straightened and bowed.
Phoenix raised his hand again.
"Stop."
Hazel's voice cut through the room.
"Why are you hitting him?" Hazel asked, her voice sharp and clear.
Phoenix turned to her. His face was completely calm which made it more unsettling than anger would have been.
"He had one responsibility," Phoenix said. "One. To keep you safe." His eyes moved back to Korran. "Do you understand the condition she is in right now because of your failure?"
"I am fully aware, Alpha," Korran said, his voice steady despite the blood running from his face. "I deserve whatever punishment you give."
"He saved my life," Hazel said. "If he had not found me when he did that creature would have killed me. You would not be standing here questioning him right now."
Phoenix looked at her for a moment then turned back to Korran.
"Where did you go?" His voice remained even, almost quiet. "Your only purpose was to remain beside her. Always. Under every circumstance."
"He went to look for the soldiers who had not returned," Hazel said. "Because he was trying to protect everyone. He came back for me the moment he could."
The room held its silence.
Korran kept his head bowed.
"What if you had not returned at that exact moment?" Phoenix continued, his voice carrying the particular stillness of someone who has already calculated every outcome. "What if she had not been fearless enough to survive until you did? The soldiers had one duty. Protect the carriage. Nothing else."
Korran raised his head.
"We were all under threat," he said. "Someone had to account for the others. You were not on the convoy and the mindlink was cut. We had no way to reach you." His voice remained respectful but firm. "What exactly did you want us to do? Sit inside a sealed barrier and wait?"
The room went very quiet.
Phoenix looked at him steadily.
"Are you questioning my power?" he asked. "You believe I could not have protected every single one of you regardless of the barrier?"
Here's your passage edited and enhanced:
"You are powerful, Alpha. I acknowledge that completely," Korran said. "I only wanted to help."
"This is the last time I will say this," Phoenix replied. "Protection is my responsibility. Your duty is to carry out my instructions. Nothing beyond that."
Korran met his eyes steadily.
"I will always follow your instructions, Alpha. But if a situation like that ever happens again I will do exactly the same thing. Look out for everyone. That will never change."
Phoenix looked at him for a long moment then turned away.
He moved to where Hazel sat and crouched before her, his voice dropping into something quieter and more deliberate.
"The physicians found something during their examination," he said. "The baby has shifted from its correct position. The pressure it is placing on your surrounding organs is significant." He held her gaze. "You will experience severe pain at your waist and on both sides of your abdomen. It will come without warning and it will come every day. The physicians described it as feeling like being stabbed repeatedly." A pause. "It could confine you to bed for days at a time. And during labour the risk increases considerably." He was quiet for a moment. "You may not survive it."
Hazel said nothing.
"The decision belongs entirely to you," Phoenix said. "No one else. Do you want to continue with this pregnancy or end it?"
Hazel turned it over in her mind slowly and carefully.
Without the child she had nothing. No shield. No leverage. No reason for anyone in Redlunar to keep her breathing. Bloodmoon was waiting and she had no plan, no sight and no allies she could fully claim.
The pain would come and go. It would not be permanent.
Her son was.
"I will keep the baby," she said. "To full term."
"Your decision has been heard," Phoenix said. He rose. "I will return at sunrise." He turned toward the door but not before his eyes found Korran one final time, a look that carried an entire conversation inside it.
Then he was gone.
The moment the door closed Korran crossed the room and pulled Hazel into a hug, holding her carefully.
"I am so sorry," he said. "I should have been more careful. I should never have left your side."
Hazel pulled back slightly.
"What are you apologising for?" she asked. "If it had been me I would have run and left every single one of you behind." A pause. "I mean that sincerely."
Korran laughed despite himself.
Then Hazel tilted her head toward him.
"You smell like that creature," she said. "Did it swallow you and spit you back out?"
"The poison got onto my clothes," he said. "Some of it."
She nodded slowly.
"Go and rest," he said. "Please."
"You too," she replied.
He left.
The door clicked shut and the room went completely quiet.
Hazel sat still for a moment. Then she brought her arm to her mouth and bit down hard, pressing her teeth into her own skin to hold the sound inside her.
The pain had already started.
The soldiers were brought before Phoenix, lined up and silent, Korran among them.
Phoenix looked at them one by one before he spoke.
"Not one of you stayed with her," he said. His voice was quiet which made it worse. "You ran. Every single one of you. And left a blind pregnant woman alone in a forest with a creature none of you could handle."
"Alpha," one soldier said carefully. "If not for her we would all be dead."
Phoenix looked at him steadily.
"A blind pregnant woman saved you," he repeated. It was not a question.
"Yes Alpha."
The silence that followed was the most uncomfortable thing in the room.
One by one they told him everything. The singing. The stomping. The rhythm she set and maintained while mapping every person in that tent by sound alone. The way she felt the creature before any of them did. The timing.
Phoenix listened without interrupting.
His expression did not change.
But something behind his eyes did.