Chapter 14 · Say Her Name

"Give me that." Cassian's fingers close over my phone before I can lift it back to my ear, and Ethan's voice keeps leaking out of the speaker, tinny and wrecked, still talking about a doctor's report nobody's seen.

"That's my phone—"

"He just told forty pack elders you're carrying his kid." Cassian's thumb finds the red button and mashes it like it owes him money. The line dies mid-word. "You want to hear the rest of that garbage, or you want to breathe first?"

I don't answer. My hands won't stop shaking so I shove them in my pockets like that'll fix anything.

"He's lying," I say. "I haven't slept with Ethan in six months. I haven't slept with anyone in six months."

"I believe you." Cassian says it flat, no hesitation, and somehow that's worse than if he'd made me argue for it. "Doesn't matter what I believe. He said it in front of the council. That means there's a hearing.