- Aria
I swear, the hospital air hits differently when someone you care about is hurting.
Luca and I walked into Old Alpha Magnus’s room carrying the thermos of soup I’d spent way too long preparing over the stove.
I kept telling myself it wasn’t a big deal, just soup… but it felt like offering a tiny piece of comfort to a man who’d spent decades carrying everyone else’s burdens.
He looked even smaller today. Still sharp-eyed, still stubborn as a mule, but the strength that used to fill the whole room barely flickered now.
“There you are,” he rasped, trying to push himself a little higher on the pillows. “Took you long enough. I was about to start chewing on these sheets.”
I snorted. “Don’t be dramatic. I brought my famous soup.”
“Ah,” he said with a faint smile, “so
