Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,181

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“You’re a spy,” Damien said slowly, his face pale.

Hawthorne grimaced. “Of course I’m not a spy. You lot are.” Murmurs arose around us from the rebellion members who were watching us.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Killian spat out.

Hawthorne brushed off his clothing, adjusting the way they lay. “I did take the database that the Kraken was creating from his computer. I took it for the safety of my people. Once I found out you were working on it, I knew you were doing exactly what the Council wanted. You were tracking our people, finding out how to leverage them so you could take over as leaders.” He threw the words out in challenge, widening his eyes as if horrified. Gasps of fear and anger echoed around us.

I laughed, the sound dark and angry. “Interesting claim.” I crossed my arms over my chest, never removing my eyes from his. “It’s a wonderful argument until we start looking at the details.” I waved a hand toward his pocket. “I’m sure when you download that information, you would have noticed that those files haven’t been updated since around the date of the gala, which was before we were even being welcomed into the rebellion.”

“So? It was done.” He shrugged.

“Except it clearly wasn’t complete,” I retorted, not even bothering to raise my voice as I contradicted him. I took a step toward him, counting points off on my fingers and adding a step for each one as I closed in on the other man. “As anyone who looked at it would see, I very purposely did not finish it so it could not be used.”

“Uh…” Hawthorne stuttered, his hands curling and loosening.

“Let’s add the fact that you didn’t delete the program from my computer, you merely copied it.” The sweat on his face was clear, his breathing heavy as his eyes darted around. The Council was an idiot for using this man as their spy—he wasn’t bred for it, and clearly not trained for it. “If you had wanted to prevent me from using it, you would have destroyed it.”

“You… you could have recreated it,” he argued.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Possibly. Given enough time. However, if you truly planned to expose me, you would have had plenty of time to make your case before I would have had that chance.” His nose was nearly touching mine now, my Kraken roaring as it took in this pathetic excuse for a male. There had been no red flags regarding this man when I approved him for Molly—logic dictated that he had probably been turned to the Council shortly before we made this journey.

“Finally, and most damning for you, my work on that project was no secret to Ciarán.” I indicated the man with a tilt of my head. “The man reads souls, did you know that?”

Hawthorne scoffed, “Of course he’d lie for you.”

I laughed, though there was nothing happy or kind in the sound. “Everyone but you is the liar now, right? Ciarán is one of the most trusted members of this rebellion. They have relied on him for almost every piece of information that’s been passed to him, for every life he’s saved. You really believe that you are important enough to have your word trusted over not only mine, not only my mate’s, but Ciarán’s?” I straightened the collar of his shirt, my fingers digging tightly into the skin of his shoulder. “And do you really think he wouldn’t have disclosed that knowledge to the other leaders when they were making the decision on whether or not to allow us in?” Hawthorne turned green, gagging lightly as I chuckled and stepped backwards.

“He’s helping the Council,” Rune declared, repeating the obvious. I resisted the desire to roll my eyes. Hadn’t I just proven that? “How the hell did you let him through?” He turned a glare on Damien.

“Probably one of the snake’s choices,” Risa muttered, and a growling Tao stepped forward, forcing the female back. Nix glared, her expression speaking to her desire to deck the woman in the face. I knew she’d had just about enough of Risa’s behavior.

“Damien didn’t vet him,” Valleria whispered, her voice cracking slightly. “Who was it?” She turned to an ashen Leo. “Who did the vetting then?”

“Fuck,” Leo spat, rubbing at his hair. “Um… Yubi, I think?” Yubi was a Satori I’d met in passing when we had arrived at the first base after we ran. While there were a wide number of shifters who had