Page 72 of Autumn L.A.W

Joell sighed. “Lioness is moving out.”

Sahara gasped. “No, she’s not.”

Lioness winced. “Hear me out⁠—”

“You are not moving out.”

“I’m not leaving forever,” Lioness said quickly.

“You’re leaving the League?” Sahara said, voice dangerously calm.

Silence.

“I’m stepping away. For now,” Lioness admitted.

Sahara took a step forward.

Ezra moved just enough to be there. “Sahara,” he said quietly.

“Don’t,” she said between gritted teeth.

“Listen,” he said. “If you go after her like this, you’ll turn a conversation into a battlefield.”

“She’s abandoning us.”

“Or she’s making a choice she doesn’t know how to explain yet. Give her a chance.”

Sahara’s jaw tightened.

“I’ve been the one people assumed would stay,” Ezra said. “And when I didn’t, they called it betrayal instead of survival.”

That stopped her.

“Let her speak,” he finished.

Lioness swallowed. “I’m not running from you. I just need to know who I am outside the League.”

Crystal nodded. “We’re alarmed. Not angry.”

“I’m angry,” Sahara muttered.

“We know,” Joell said. “You’re vibrating.”

“This is a negotiation,” Rayna said. “Not a resignation.”

“I’m just changing my address for a while,” Lioness said softly. “To Cal’s. Listen, I think the reason he could see my spirit lion when most mundanes couldn’t is because he’s my fated mate.”

Sahara exhaled. “Oh. Fine. Let’s talk.”

Rayna clapped once. “After food. No one negotiates well hungry.”

“Pumpkin soup?” Magda offered.

“Yes. A nice Autumn soup,” Sahara agreed. “Then we negotiate.”

Cal Monroe’s apartment looked like it had lost a fight with a medical supply catalog.

The living room had been reconfigured overnight into something between a field hospital and a practical IKEA display. A hospital bed dominated the space. Pillows were stacked behind his head and under his legs. A walker stood nearby, like it was waiting for permission to activate.