The wards read me before I reach them.
As the car passes through, the bond settles.
The thread going from thin to full in one step.
The bond pulls east.
“Stop here,” I tell Kyle.
I’m out of the car before it fully stops.
She’s on the bench at the garden’s edge. Watching me cross the courtyard.
I sit beside her.
“You came back,” she says.
I don’t answer.
She looks at her hands. The garden wall. Back at me.
She places her hand on the bench between us.
I put mine over it.
We sit. Around us, the compound is bustling with life.
I stand. “We can talk later. It’s time for the briefing.”
“Yes.” She stands.
We walk inside together.
The conference room fills fast.
Julian has the contamination data on the main screen, three weeks of numbers laid out in clean visual logic. He has the presentation built already. Every question anticipated. Marcellus at the far wall, arms crossed. Ethan near the door. Caleb with a tablet. Isabelle in her seat.
Marcellus looks at me when I walk in. His eyes meet mine a beat longer than usual. He says nothing.
Julian doesn’t look up. “Contamination reports. Feral attacks have tripled across the southeastern territories in the past week. Birmingham. Savannah. Jacksonville. The pattern is consistentwith deliberate seeding. Konstantin is accelerating. He knows we’re building toward a strike.”
Ethan’s comm crackles. He listens. His expression shifts.
“Someone’s at the perimeter,” he says. “Single contact on the north access road. On foot.” He looks at me. “Wolf shifter. Asking for you by name. Says the Alpha of the Iron Claw pack sent him. Says the old agreements are relevant.”
I go still.
The Iron Claw. Erik.
“Let him through,” I say.
I move toward the door. After a beat, Celeste stands and follows.
In the corridor, she falls into step beside me.
The wolf is waiting at the gate.
He’s tall. Lean. Sandy hair cropped close. Arms crossed, weight on his back foot. His nostrils flare once when we approach. Scenting us. He doesn’t try to hide it.
