Maybe I'm overreading the currents in the air, Naomi told herself, forcing her pulse back into control. But even she could feel it now—the way uncertainty clung to her like an unsettled scent, refusing to fade from the pack territory.
Elsewhere in the city's hidden network of alliances, Alex arrived at Hayley's small den disguised as an apartment. She was already waiting, her presence sharp and expectant, the kind of energy that always made a room feel smaller. They collided the moment he entered, instinct and tension pulling them into each other before words even mattered.
Afterward, her breathing steadied, but her curiosity didn't. Hayley studied him carefully, her gaze narrowing as she asked about Francis. Alex's answer was controlled, measured—Francis had collapsed, rushed into emergency healing procedures, his condition unstable within the pack's medical systems.
