Ethan stepped into the kitchen like he owned it, his presence swallowing the space in an instant. The raucous laughter, the sound of food splattering against tile and stainless steel and the reckless stomping all died the moment his shadow stretched across the threshold.
One of the youths, a boy named Paul had a chunk of bread in his hand, another was halfway through smashing a plate and sauce dripping from his chin, while Alex, the one at the front dropped the chicken leg he’d been gnawing, his trembling hands betraying him.
"A-alpha Ethan…” Chad’s voice cracked. They had come here with a simple directive: cause a scene, rattle the human owner, and report back on her connections. It was a low-level job, a simple test. But their informant had failed to mention one crucial detail, that th
