ALEXANDER
I stepped into the office just as Cole was ending a call.
The door closed softly behind me, but he still sensed my presence immediately—he always did. He sat at the small conference table near the window, his shoulders slightly hunched, his tablet balanced in one hand while the other lowered his phone. His expression was tight, focused in a way that told me this wasn’t routine business.
“Good morning, Alpha,” he said, slipping the phone into his pocket.
Okay, when he sounds that formal, it’s definitely serious.
“Morning,” I replied, my gaze lingering on him a moment longer than usual. “What’s going on?”
Cole didn’t waste time. He turned the tablet toward me, the screen lighting up.
“Alpha… Patrick is dead,” he said.
The words landed with a dull thud—not because I didn’t u
