Chapter 6

Aurelia POV

The comms channel crackled with static, distorted by the sheer volume of panic coming through the speaker.

“Stand down weapons, Alpha?!” Ronan’s voice exploded through the tactical slate, sharp and disbelieving. “They’re in the shallows! Corvin’s lead vehicle is thirty feet from our bank! If we don’t open fire right now, they’ll take the high ground!”

“I said hold your fire, Captain,” Cassian growled into the transmitter. His tone was carved from granite, cold, absolute, and devoid of fear. “Lower your barrels. Do not discharge a single round across that water.”

“Cassian, they’re armed to the teeth!” Ronan yelled back over the deafening hum of idling diesel engines echoing through the woods. “They’re crossing!”

“They are waiting for you to pull the trigger,” Cassian barked, his voice cutting through the comms like a whip. “The moment a Redmoon bullet hits their metal, Draven has a legal slaughter on his hands. He’s filming every frame