Alexander:
She was shaking.
Not visibly, not enough for anyone else to notice. Alessia walked beside me with her chin lifted, steps measured, breathing controlled. To anyone watching, she looked composed.
To me, she felt wrong.
And I knew that she wasn’t carrying the same light that she had when we went out.
Her fingers were curled tightly into my sleeve, knuckles pale. Her scent had shifted, sharp, unsettled, fear threaded through it like a blade. My wolf stirred, restless and alert.
“What happened back there?” I asked quietly as we stepped into the car. “Because I know for fact that something did.”
She buckled in without looking at me. “Nothing. I told you. I just grew tired that’s all.”
Lie.
I didn’t press. Not yet. I pulled out of the parking lot, every sense stretched thin, s
