Half-built fair stalls lined the main street, wooden frames and canvas awnings in various stages of becoming something festive.
Strings of lights hung loose between poles, not yet lit, swaying gently in the afternoon breeze.
A few vendors were already setting up, arranging jars, hanging signs, testing out grills that sent up faint curls of smoke. The summer fair wasn’t ready yet, but you could feel it coming.
That promise of something bright and loud and full of life. I walked beside Levi, a paper cup of coffee warm in my hands, trying to match my steps to his. It wasn’t working.
“Careful,” Levi said lightly, nudging my shoulder when I nearly stepped into a stack of wooden crates.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
He grinned at that, easy and unguarded. It hit me right in the chest. He’d gotten us coffee from his favorite place, he’d said.
Some small shop tucked into the corner of the street, the owner greeting him by name, asking about his brothers, slipping a few extra pastries into a bag like it was habit.
Levi had passed one to me without thinking.
“Try it,” he’d said. “It’s amazing.”
I’d taken a bite, and Levi was right. It was amazing.
We moved past a stall where someone was hanging hand-painted signs, the scent of fresh paint lingering in the air.
A group of kids darted past us, laughing, nearly colliding into Levi before veering away at the last second.
Levi merely shifted slightly, steady as always. I took a sip of my coffee to give my hands something to do. To keep them from shaking. My mind wouldn’t stop. It kept building things.
Scenes and moments, futures that didn’t belong to me. I could see it so clearly.
The fair was fully set up by the evening. Lights glowed overhead as dusk settled in. Music and laughter drifted through the air.
Levi was beside me, close enough that our shoulders brushed every now and then. I pictured Kai too. In my mind, he was here, rolling his eyes at something I said.
The three of us moving through the crowd like we belonged there. We weren’t packless or lost.
The image shattered, replaced by Daniel’s voice.I want you to open the south compound gate.
My stomach dropped so hard I thought I might be sick. The coffee in my hand suddenly felt too hot. How could I even be standing here right now, walking beside him?
How was I still smiling and pretending, when I knew what I’d been ordered to do.
My grip tightened around the cup. I thought of the deer shifter. The one they’d found, half-dead in a cage. The way Levi and the others had moved without hesitation.
They’d treated him like he mattered, like he was one of theirs, even though he wasn’t.
Would they do the same for me? For Kai, if our situation was reversed? The answer came too quickly. Yes. I knew they would, and that was the problem.
Because that meant I was standing here, about to betray people who would’ve saved us without hesitation.
My steps faltered. I didn’t even realize I’d slowed until Levi stopped walking beside me.
“Mason?”
I blinked, dragging myself back into the moment. Levi was watching me closely now, concern etched across his face.
“Is something bothering you today?”
The question hit like a stone dropped into still water. Ripples spread through my chest. I shook my head too quickly.
