ELENA
Everyone was being a little weird around me.
It started the moment I got back from the hospital. Whispers in the Moonstone packhouse—not loud enough to catch the words, but sharp enough to notice. The kind of hush that dropped when I entered a room. The kind that made you wonder what they knew that you didn’t.
Even Mason and Erin were acting off. Erin, who normally bounced through the kitchen like a caffeinated bunny, had grown quieter. Her smile was still bright, but her eyes kept flicking toward me with concern she didn’t voice.
And Mason—Mason was the worst of them. He hovered. I love my brother, but the man doesn’t hover. He gives orders, tosses out sarcastic commentary, and disappears. But now? He lingered.
Walked me to my room, asked about how I slept, triple-checked the
