The hearing was scheduled for a Friday.Not a full pack tribunal a preliminary verification hearing, the first formal step in Damon's paternity claim. Under Crown jurisdiction it had been delayed twice already. The third date held.Kael's legal team had prepared everything. I had reviewed the documents. I understood the process. I had told myself, multiple times, in the quiet of the apartment after Isla was asleep, that this was procedural. That the Crown jurisdiction meant Damon's options were limited. That I was not eighteen years old standing at a bonfire anymore.I still didn't sleep the night before.The hearing took place in a neutral pack house forty minutes outside Creston. I drove myself Kael had offered a car, an escort, his physical presence at my side, any and all of the above. I had thanked him and declined.This one I needed to do myself.Mira met me in the car park. She took one look at my face and handed me a coffee without speaking. We walked in together.The hearing
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