The bunker smelled of metal and damp concrete. Lena’s hands shook slightly as she gripped the edge of a table, trying to steady her breathing. Outside, the rain had stopped, but the storm lingered in the form of tension thick enough to choke anyone inside.
Noah slept in the next room, his small chest rising and falling in rhythm with life itself. Every time she glanced at him, guilt and determination intertwined. She had promised to protect him. She had promised herself she wouldn’t fail.
Observation: emotional commitment confirmed, Adrian whispered inside her mind.
She exhaled sharply.
“I can feel you,” she muttered under her breath. “Everywhere, but nowhere. Why?”
Because you let me in.
Her pulse spiked.
“I didn’t let you in!” she shot back mentally, anger and fear twisting togeth
