**SASHA**
I feel it before the alarms sound.
The bond snaps from a low, watchful hum into something sharp and electric, a sudden flare beneath my ribs that steals my breath and pulls my attention hard toward the center of the packhouse. It is not panic. It is not fear. It is urgency stripped down to its bones, and I am already moving before my mind fully catches up.
Boots hit stone in the corridor outside my room, fast and purposeful, voices low but clipped, and when the alarm finally pulses through the walls, controlled and unmistakable, it confirms what my body already knows.
This is not another test. This is not a probe.
I dress in seconds, hands steady despite the way my pulse slams against my throat, braid half-finished and abandoned because neatness no longer matters. When I ste
