POV: Alessia De Luca
“He was supposed to choose me.” Silence crushed the war chamber.
Katarina’s words lingered heavily in the air while snow battered the fortress windows behind them.
Alessia felt Cassian’s hand still resting against her lower back. Warm, possessive, dangerously aware. And suddenly, the entire room understood something ugly.
This wasn’t simply political history between Katarina Orlov and the Black Alpha.
It was personal, very personal.
Cassian’s expression turned glacial.
“Katarina.”
Her name sounded like a warning but Katarina only laughed softly. Not amused, wounded.
“You think they don’t know?” she asked quietly. “Half the syndicates expected our union announcement by winter.” The Orlov-Volkov union would have merged shipping monopolies, casino fronts, eastern
