The first day of full readiness had a different quality than any previous training day.
Not more intense — intensity had been constant since Mira arrived. Different in the specific way of a thing that had shifted from preparation to proximity. The drills ran with the economy of people who were no longer practicing for a hypothetical. The perimeter wolves moved with the alertness of people who had a specific threat, a specific timeline, a specific approach route to watch.
Mira trained alone that morning for the first time.
Not because Damien wasn't available — he was in the war room running final coordination. But because she had asked for the time, and he had given it without requiring an explanation, which was one of the things she had come to rely on about him.
She stood in the empty
