I wait until the packhouse settles into that quiet stretch of the night where everything feels suspended rather than asleep, where Axel and Atticus are both busy with work that refuses to wait and the bond hums low and steady instead of sharp with concern, and only then do I move. I don’t announce where I’m going and I don’t ask permission, because this isn’t something that can be mediated or softened, and I already know they would try to protect me from it even if they didn’t say the words out loud.
Alpha David’s floor is quiet, the guards posted outside his door alert but subdued, and when they recognise me they step aside without question. The nurse looks up from the small table near the bed when I enter, surprise flickering across her face, and I meet her gaze calmly before she has a
