The secure conference room smelled of coffee, ambition, and carefully masked fear. Liam sat at the head of the polished table, watching Senator Oscar Martinez of San Diego try not to stare at the claw marks Akira had left on his neck. Across from them, Governor Rick Stormhold nursed his third whiskey despite it being barely noon.
"The footage from your wedding has changed everything," Martinez said, his weathered face showing the strain of fighting a losing battle for decades. "Sixty-seven percent approval for Otherkind rights. My colleagues can't ignore those numbers."
"They'll try," Stormhold added, voice rough from years of political warfare. "But shooting a child on live television? Even Harrison's supporters are distancing themselves. The OCD's budget is under review for the first t
