Aria POV
The handwriting on the wall stayed with me as we organized the search teams across the pack house. There was something about the way those letters curved, the deliberate precision, the rhythm of the strokes. I’d seen it before. Not in the archive files, but somewhere closer. More recent.
I stood in Kieran’s office, surrounded by maps of pack territory, every wall covered with photos of the murders. I tried to force the connection, but my mind kept slipping back to the kiss, to the feel of Kieran’s hands on my face, to the mate bond now thrumming between us like a live wire I couldn’t shut off. I didn’t have time for distractions. Uncle Marcus was running out of it.
“Anything?” Kieran asked, coming in with two cups of coffee. He set one beside me, and when our fingers brushed, t
