He starts from the beginning. How Cliff and Raff were casual for a year or two before things got serious. How I met Raff at a bar one night, went home with him, and fell in love with both alphas almost instantly. Then Perrin shared how he visited me one summer and the next thing we knew we were a proper pack.
Elowen is sweet the whole time.
Leaning in, asking questions, and laughing at exactly the right moment. She looks at Perrin like she’s genuinely curious about us, and I find that harder to stay guarded against than I anticipated.
Soon enough, the GPS on Cliff’s phone tells him to turnright, and we pull into a parking lot, before he kills the engine.
I look up through the windshield and go still.
The building in front of us looks less like an apartment complex and more like a condemned motel. There are two stories of weathered beige stucco with exterior walkways and metal railings that are slightly orange with rust. There’s a vending machine near what I assume is the office with one flickering light.
“Okay,” Raff’s voice is tight, telling me he’s as surprised as I am. “I'll put down the third row of seats to make room.” He glances back at Elowen. “I also brought some ties in case we need to strap anything to the roof.”
"I really don't have much," she says for the tenth time. In fact, she insisted she had so little, she tried to keep all of us from coming, but Cliff wasn’t having it.
“We’ll see,” Raff says with a smile, then he opens his door.
We all climb out and follow Elowen up the exterior staircase to the second floor, our footsteps loud on the metal grating. She stops at a door with a tarnished number seven screwed slightly crooked into the wood and completely freezes.
"Shit.” Her eyes go wide, realizing something.
“What’s wrong?” Perrin asks.
"My purse.” She drops her face into her hands. "I left it at the Morder. I don’t have a key.” She looks at my brother, and shakes her head. “I’ll have to go talk to Ed at the main office.” She grimaces like that’s the last thing she wants to do. “I’ll be right back.”
But before she can move an inch, Cliff steps forward, lines his shoulder up with the door, and hitsit once. The lock gives with a soft, splintering pop, and the door swings open like it was never locked at all.
Elowen stares at the open doorway for a moment. “Oh.” She blinks a few times, then laughs a little too loudly. "Thank you.”
"Of course." Cliff steps back and gestures for her to go in first.
She ducks her head as she passes him, and we all follow her in single file. I follow behind Raff, then I stop right inside the threshold, and freeze, making Perrin walk smack into my back.
"Sorry," he says automatically, then looks past me and goes quiet.
We stand there together for a moment, taking it in.
The omega wasn't kidding.
There'snothinghere.
The living room is empty except for a folding chair against the wall and a floor lamp with a crooked shade. The beige carpet is stained with a thin worn path from the door to the bedroom.
There's a tiny kitchen table pushed against the wall. It has a ridiculously tall barstool next to it, the kind that belongs at a kitchen island, not a regular table. I stare at it for a second, imagining trying to sit there to eat a meal.
She’d have to eat completely hunched over with her knees near her chin and elbows at eye level.
I glance at Perrin, who immediately meets my eyes.
Neither of us says anything, because what the hell is there to say?
"Everything I need is in the bedroom," Elowen says, already moving. Her voice is a little tight, making me wonder if she’s embarrassed.
I know I would be.
Raff peels off into the kitchen without a word. I watch him open the first cabinet. Then the second. Both are completely empty. His jaw shifts as he opens the third one, then he gives up.
“There’s nothing,” he mouths the words to me, and I nod.
