Nora’s POV
Delaine called back at two-seventeen. I was already in my office with the door locked and all three lights on — the overhead, the desk lamp, the shelf lamp — because I thought better in full light and I needed to think very well right now.
I picked up before the second ring.
"Tell me," I said.
"It's a competency petition." Her voice had that precise quality — the one she used when something needed to land exactly right. "Filed against Alpha Ashborne twenty-three days ago. Selara is claiming prolonged grief disorder following the loss of her bonded mate."
I was quiet.
"Nora."
"I heard you." I looked at the whiteboard. At Selara's name inside its three red circles. "She filed it before the ambush."
"Three days before." A pause. "She also filed a secondary complaint two day
