The man wiped his hands on the rag one last time and set it aside, then he turned from the counter and walked toward them.
The diner seemed to quiet around him, not silence exactly, but a subtle pulling back, like the room itself knew better than to listen too closely. His steps were unhurried. Confident. He stopped at the edge of their booth and looked down at them, eyes lingering on Max just long enough to confirm something for himself.
“You’ve got about three minutes,” he said calmly, voice low. “After that, the kid outside gets bored and decides making a point is worth the mess.”
Kael’s muscles tensed. “We can handle—”
“No,” the man cut in, not unkindly. “You can’t. Not here, not with her.”
His gaze sharpened. Kael felt it then, pressure, not dominance like an alpha’s, but weight.
