The night was suffocatingly quiet. After the discovery of the metallic tang in the water, the lodge felt less like a sanctuary and more like a fortress waiting for a breach.
Elena sat on the edge of her bed, her mind racing. She had spent the last hour trying to calculate the caloric density of the "Warrior's Broth" she’d served, but her thoughts kept drifting to the way Caleb’s hand had lingered on her waist in the pantry.
In the nursery next door, Leo was being "difficult." It wasn't the hungry cry; it was a low, rhythmic whimpering that seemed to vibrate through the very floorboards.
"Leo, honey, it’s three in the morning," Elena whispered, leaning over the crib.
Leo wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the closed window, his small nose twitching with an intensity she’d neve
