Lorelei I was still watching Alpha Keith breathe—barely—when the windows rattled with a sudden crack of thunder. The storm had been building all afternoon, but this… this was different. A flash of gold. Blood in water. And Alpha Keith, submerged, gasping like a man caught between two worlds. So when the lightning splintered across the sky and the lights flickered, I simply stepped back. Everything was unfolding exactly as I’d foreseen. The bathroom filled with a strange glow—unnatural, like moonlight filtered through smoke. I’d known this moment would come, though the reason had been unclear until now. Alpha Keith lay in the tub, his chest rising and falling in shallow bursts. The blood in the water had darkened. But I had drawn the water early and added her

