The snow stopped falling.
Not gradually—suddenly.
The silence that followed was wrong. Too heavy. Too alert.
Callen stiffened.
Aisha felt it instantly: that same crawling sensation along her spine, the instinctive fear that made her chest tighten and her fingers clutch the sleeve of his coat without thinking.
“Callen…?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer.
His head turned slowly, eyes scanning the darkness at the edge of the street. His body shifted in front of hers again, protective, deliberate.
That’s when the shadows moved.
Two figures stepped out from between parked cars, faces partially hidden beneath hoods. Their gazes weren’t wandering. They weren’t curious.
They were locked on her.
Aisha’s breath hitched. “Why are they looking at me?”
Callen’s jaw tightened. “Get behind me.
