The Compound felt different at night.
Quieter.
Heavier.
Like the walls themselves were listening.
Lucien walked me back to his quarters after the War Room briefing, his hand resting lightly on the small of my back. Not guiding. Not pushing.
Claiming.
Rhett peeled off toward the training hall.
Cole disappeared into the operations wing.
Jax wandered toward the lounge, humming something off‑key.
But Lucien didn’t leave me.
He opened the door to his room and stepped aside so I could enter first. The fire in the stone hearth had burned down to embers, casting a warm glow across the dark wood floors.
He shut the door behind us.
The sound echoed.
I turned to him. “Lucien… what happens now?”
He didn’t answer right away.
He walked toward me slowly, like he was approaching something f
