Tanner's eyes sweep around for a second before asking, "What's going on?"
He scans the room, grounding himself in protocol, in duty, until his gaze lands on the two men standing in the judgment circle.
One looks petrified, barely able to hold himself up. The other seems broken, hollow-eyed and limp, like someone who's already heard the verdict and is just waiting for the sentence to drop.
Shame clings to both of them like a second skin.
An elder rises and gestures toward them. Tanner's gut twists before a single word is spoken.
"Alpha Hale," the man begins, voice thick with contempt, "even at your young age, you understood how to punish this kind of disgrace. But clearly, they learned nothing. These two…" His voice cracks. He turns away, like even saying it costs him something. "They were together. Romantically."
He nearly spits the word.
The elder's words crash down like thunder, and Jess stiffens beside Tanner, breath catching like he's been hit.
For a heartbeat, Tanner doesn't move, his throat tightens, heat crawling up his neck, vision blurring at the edges.
Then, without meaning to, he shifts away from Jess, just a step, barely noticeable, but enough for Jess to feel it like a slap.
That inch between them hollows him out, like Tanner had recoiled from something filthy.
His chest cracks open with the realization, and all the air rushes out of him.
Then Tanner's father's voice explodes across the room. "Unbelievable! Again? This sickness has resurfaced! and now with men?! Adults?! Not kids anymore?!"
Tanner's shoulders stiffen. Every word is a blow.
"We were fools for showing mercy last time," his father snarls. "Thought we could contain it. Thought it would end. But it spread. Especially that one who ran." Jesse's heart thunder at the mention of him. The words almost nock him off.
"That one's still out there." The Former alpha continues, "I want him found, and the other one who was sold. Bring them and put the four together!"
He slams his fist into the table. "I don't care where they're hiding. Drag them back. They'll face real punishment."
Jess's lungs lock. Breathing feels like trying to inhale fire.
"I don't understand!" Tanner's father rages, turning to the accused. "What could a man want in another man?! What's missing in a woman that drives this filth?! Is it an evil spirit? Some twisted lust?"
The room bristles_ tense, boiling with rage and loathing.
Tanner's grip tightens on the back of a chair, his knuckles white. His legs threaten to fold.
His mind flashes... unwanted, vivid.
Jess's hands in his hair. The sound of Jess moaning his name. Their bodies tangled in heat and need. The way Jess looked at him.
The soft gasp Jess made when Tanner entered him. The way his own voice cracked, desperate and undone,
The way he marked a man...
He squeezes his eyes shut, but the memories sharpen instead of fade.
His father gestures toward him, sneering. "Look at my son. Stunned. Speechless."
Another elder stands. "We agree. Bring them back. Before others get infected."
Murmurs follow. All eyes turn to him.
"Alpha, your voice is needed."
Tanner opens his mouth but nothing comes out.
Jess looks at him but he avoids him like plague.
One of the men drops to his knees.
"Alpha, please!" he sobs. "It was a mistake! Just once! We were drunk, not thinking!"
Tanner flinches.
And at the back of the room, unnoticed till now, Jess watches.
His mouth is dry. His heartbeat thunders in his ears. Every breath feels borrowed.
"I wasn't drunk," the younger man begins, turning calmly to face the council. "I was fully aware of what I was doing, and I'm willing to face anything, even death, rather than stand here and lie that I do not love him. He wasn't sober, but I was. I've wanted this for a long time, and because I was afraid he'd reject me, I took the chance when he wasn't himself. So every bit of the blame falls on me. I was the one..."
Before he can finish, the one kneeling stands up immediately, interrupting. "I was sober! I... I was sober. I knew exactly what was happening. And I didn't stop you."
The council hall erupts into outrage.
"What nonsense is this?" one council member yells.
"Even in front of us, they dare speak such nonsense?!" another exclaims.
Tanner's father rises abruptly, fists clenched, barely restraining himself from tearing them apart.
But Tanner steps forward immediately, his voice steady, though storm of emotions that flicker in his eyes.
Here's a refined, clearer, and more emotionally vivid version of your paragraph while keeping your original meaning intact:
"Father, no!" Tanner snaps, his voice taut with emotion. "They'll be sold into slavery." His tone hardens with finality.
Gasps ripple through the council, voices rising in a clash of outrage and reluctant approval.
Jess looks at Tanner in disbelief, as if he can't comprehend what just happened, how Tanner, who had been with him, a man, who had marked him and nearly slept with him again less than an hour ago, could stand there and pass judgment like that.
Frustration wells up in Jess, hot and bitter; he wants to scream, to expose everything they did, to make the entire room see the truth, but he swallows it down, forces himself to stay silent.
Tanner turns sharply to the guards. "Escort them out. Handle everything."
Without waiting for the council's approval, or their protests, he storms out.
Jess doesn't hesitate. Fury blazing behind his eyes, he follows Tanner out, fists clenched.
He won't let this go. He won't let Tanner pretend he's not one of them, not after everything.