Lynn's POV
I take her hand.
Her grip closes around mine with both hands — not a handshake, something warmer than that, the way you hold someone's hand when you've been waiting for the introduction. Her smile is already at full wattage, the kind that arrives with its own light source.
"Lynn." She says my name like she's been meaning to say it. "I have been genuinely looking forward to this. Everything I've heard about you — the banquet, the case that Richardson's team has been rebuilding, the way you stood in that room full of senior Alphas who wanted you gone and made them back down." She shakes her head, and the admiration in her face isn't performance — it's the real kind, the kind that has an opinion underneath it. "You're more than I expected."
"Thank you," I say.
My smile is in p
