The first sign something was wrong came before dawn.
Highcrest woke like it always did lights flickering on in layered grids, patrol routes activating in quiet precision, the city stretching itself awake under steel and law. Nothing outwardly shifted. No alarms. No public alerts.
But in Ari’s chest, something settled.
He froze halfway through buttoning his shirt, fingers stilling against the fabric. The bond wasn’t pulling. Wasn’t demanding.
It was… wide.
Expansive in a way that made his breath catch.
“Ari?” Eli called from the kitchen. “You okay?”
Ari swallowed. “Yeah. I just…”
He stopped, because he felt it then. Not as emotion, not as instinct, but as presence.
Riven. Near, Claiming.
Ari moved to the window without really deciding to. The district below was just waking vendors
