The transition from the subterranean medical bunker to the upper levels of the ancestral estate felt like ascending into the heart of a sleeping beast.
Julian carried Chloe through the dark mahogany corridors of the upper east wing, his steady, relentless stride echoing softly against the antique rugs. Ethan walked a half step behind them, his heavy boots trailing faint patterns of dust and dried Vane copper on the pristine hardwood. The atmosphere in the grand mansion was suffocatingly thick, saturated with centuries of dominant shifter lineage and the localized, sweltering heat of the twins’ unbridled relief.
When Julian pushed open the heavy double doors to the master suite, the sheer scale of their private sanctuary laid itself bare. It was a massive pavilion of dark stone, exposed b
