"Six hours and seventeen minutes. I timed it."
"You were there?"
"I couldn't comfort her. Ragon had a comfort ban in place, but I could make sure she didn't collapse." I pause. "I don't think she knew I was behind her. She never looked around. I just—stayed close."
Lukas's brows furrow.
He makes a note.
"Pattern evidence," he says. "Favoritism. Pack members identifying it and being overruled. Documented."
"Recording two," Chase says.
The screen shifts to my own face.
My phone is propped against a box on the dresser, camera aimed at me. I look rough in this one. The kind of rough that comes from holding a careful face in place for too many hours and then finally being alone.
My voice on the recording is low and frustrated and raw in a way I would never let myself sound in front of anyone.
"He's banned her from alpha comfort. What kind of alpha takes away something that essential to an omega? I'm done with this, Chase. I'm not going to let him keep hurting her. If he kicks me out, so be it."
The angle shifts. I'd forgotten to turn it off. The phone goes into my shirt pocket, camera facing in, and you can hear my footsteps in the hallway.
Then Ragon's voice.
"Jasper. Where are you going?"
"To check on Vee."
"You can't. She's under comfort ban."
"Banned from basic care? That's not how omegas work, Ragon."
"She's being punished."
"For reacting when someone called her second-hand? For having feelings about being treated like she doesn't matter?" My voice on the recording is sharp. Sharper than I usually let myself get around him. "I shouldn't have to be the one telling you this. I'm not even bonded into this pack yet."
"If you don't follow my rules, you're out. Do you understand?"
The longest pause on the recording.
I remember that hallway. Vee's door. Just a few feet away.
Chase’s voice in my head:If you're out, there's no one left to help her later.
My voice gets quieter."Understood."
Footsteps retreating.
The recording runs a few more seconds and cuts.
The room is quiet.
I'm staring at my hands.
"Comfort denial," Arden says, clinical and professional. The voice he uses to put distance between himself and what he's saying. "Documented on video. Jasper advocating for Vee's wellbeing. Ragon threatening removal if he didn't comply."
"Textbook," Lukas says. "It will still be tough, but this could move the board, stubborn bastards that they are."
