Dave lurched to his feet, his gaze lasered on Hudson as he rolled his shoulders. They were about to go furry, and this meeting was about to get bloody.
“Stand down, Principal,” Lucifer demanded. The words landed like a slap.
Hudson turned slowly, disbelief hardening into fury. “You don’t give me orders.”
Dave’s jaw flexed. “You aren’t getting it. Everyone here is by invitation but you. The only person who can’t give orders is you.”
“Plus, there’s the whole Reaper thing,” Sophia said.
The silence that followed was thick, old with history.
“You knew,” I said. “You knew what he’d done and didn’t tell me.”
“Oh dear,” Harry muttered.
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Not important, and not my secret to tell. For your mating to survive the test of time, you must reveal your own secrets. That’s the only way trust can be earned and bonds be healed.”
“I know you feel betrayed,” Dave said.
Hudson pointed at him and snarled. “You kept secrets from me. Huge ones, life-changing ones. You gathered intel and reported it back to the fucking devil. Feeling betrayed doesn’t cover it.”
Dave didn’t flinch. “I kept secrets because leaders don’t get to survive if they know everything.”
Hudson surged forward, and Dave erupted from his seat, meeting him head-on. The impact cracked the ground.
They didn’t shift. That was something. This wasn’t about the kill; it was about frustration and pain.
Hudson’s fist connected with Dave’s jaw, snapping his head sideways. Dave drove an elbow into Hudson’s ribs, efficient and brutal, following it with a knee that should have dropped him. Hudson barely flinched. He grabbed Dave by the collar andslammed him into a standing stone, ancient sigils flaring in protest.
“Enough!” Aira shouted.
Neither of them heard her.
“Let them work it out,” Lucifer advised. “With their kind, it’s the only way. Better they do it here than at the pack where they have to provide a united front.”
Hudson wrapped a hand around Dave’s throat and lifted him clean off the ground. “You sat here in your lordly chair and played god with my pack, with my future, and with my mate,” Hudson snarled.
Dave’s hands locked around Hudson’s wrists, muscles straining. “Everything I’ve done is to protect the woman you’ve chosen to be yours. Everything. Even before you declared your intentions. Even before you met her. My actions—our actions—are to protect Cora and the bloodline she holds. She is the final seal, the ender of worlds, and the bringer of peace. Nothing comes before that. Not even brotherhood.”
Hudson roared and threw him. Dave hit the ground hard, rolled, and came back up bloodied and furious. He charged, tackling Hudson, driving him backward into the blossom tree. Petals rained down. They hit the ground again, grappling, fists flying, power detonating with each blow.
Harry hovered, eyes wide. “How long do we leave them to work this out?”
I snapped. “Enough,” I roared, my wings exploding. The power shoved uninvited into my psyche blazed in my veins.
The word hit the ground like a verdict. Divine authority poured out of me, not wild, not uncontrolled, but absolute. The air bowed. The stones groaned. Every Serpent froze where they stood, their power crushed flat beneath mine.
When the devil froze, you knew you were fucked.
An invisible force ripped Hudson and Dave apart and slammed them backward, pinning them where they stood. Both breathed hard, blood staining their mouths, eyes locked in mutual fury.
I stepped between them, power burning white-gold beneath my skin. “Eloise is harvesting souls.” The words landed like a blade. “She’s hollowing elementals,” I reiterated, because they were missing the vital point. “Stripping the soul and leaving the body breathing. Obedient. Empty. She’s building an army that doesn’t question and doesn’t remember who they were.”
Aira’s breath caught, one hand flying to her chest. “That violates everything.”
Aunt Sophia’s power flared, her elemental energy crackling dangerously. “Necromancy,” she whispered.
“Like Cora? Death magic?” Dave checked.
