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“Yeah.” The answer scrapes out of my throat.

“I’m sending one of the crew to pick you up. They’ll take you straight to the hospital, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Kain is hurt?”

A pause.

“I don’t know how bad it is.” His voice gentles. “That’s why we’re going to the hospital.”

My fingers tighten on the phone case. The skin around my thumbnail blanches white.

The edge cuts into the pad of my thumb, but the sensation is remote, as if it’s happening to someone else’s hand.

“Stay inside until the car arrives, okay?”

Somehow, I manage to answer.

The call ends.

I lower the phone. The screen goes dark, and for a second, I stand in darkness. As the room resolves around me, the blue glow from my handheld shines from the couch.

The farming sim is still running, my avatar asleep in the pixel farmhouse.

My stomach growls.

Stackers.

I wanted Stackers.

Kain said the fries would be cold. He offered to cook something here. He asked me to wait until tomorrow.

I sent him out anyway.

My stomach turns.

I’m not hungry anymore.

14

The soft-sided duffel bag hangs from my left hand, the handle cutting into my palm.

I stand in the doorway of Kain’s bedroom as his scent surrounds me.

Cedar, clean sheets, and underneath it all, that musky Alpha note I’ve never been able to name but could pick out, blindfolded, in a crowd of a hundred people.

The nightstand lamp spills a honeyed glow across the bed, leaving the corners steeped in shadow.

My phone buzzes in my hoodie pocket, but I ignore it. Whoever Will sent to pick me up is on their way. I have to be fast.

I don’t know if they’ll keep him overnight. I should pack a bag, just in case.

I step into the room and pull open the top dresser drawer with my free hand.

Clean shirts. Black, gray, and charcoal. I grab a graphic black tee and stuff it into the duffel, not folding it.

In the second drawer, I find socks. I grab three pairs, the fabric soft between my fingers, and drop them into the bag on top of the shirt.

A chill runs through me at the thought of the hospital. Kain will need his own things.