The cafeteria noise vanished around me. Not because people stopped talking. They didn't. Their voices blurred into a thick, distant hum like I had been dropped underwater. My whole body locked in place as the whisper faded from my mind.
I see you.
My heartbeat stumbled. My wolf pressed close to my spine, rigid, ears up, every instinct snarling but silent. I could not move. Could not breathe. The world felt too bright and too sharp and too empty all at once.
Jack felt it instantly. He grabbed my wrist, fingers tight, grounding me. Beau shifted closer, chair scraping softly against the floor as he boxed in my right side.
“Lainey,” Jack said quietly. “Talk to me.”
I swallowed hard. My voice scraped out like sand. “He was here.”
Jack went still.
Beau’s nostrils flared as he scanned the
