DAMIAN
The report on my desk felt like a knife sliding between my ribs.
Elias Hudson and Victor Bennett had been meeting in private for weeks. Not just casual council discussions, but coordinated business deals that sliced straight through territories I had spent years securing. Cassian's signature appeared on several documents, feeding them sensitive information from inside my own circle. Dates, locations, even notes on Aria's movements and the emerging changes in her.
I stared at the papers, jaw tight enough to ache, fingers pressing into the edge of the desk until the wood creaked. They were testing me. Testing how far they could push before I pushed back with everything I had. And they were using Aria as the perfect excuse—a human-hybrid in the heart of power, a threat to tr
