Lucian takes one more step toward me, his attention narrowing in that way that feels like pressure against my skin rather than a look, and I feel my wolf coil tight and ready beneath my ribs even as Axel and Atticus shift subtly on either side of me, their bodies angling in without conscious thought like they are bracing for impact.
He smiles again, slow and knowing, the kind of smile that assumes inevitability, like he thinks this is the moment everything finally tilts in his favor and all the pieces he has been nudging into place snap together at last.
Then the air hisses.
It is barely a sound at all, more a sharp disturbance than actual noise, and Lucian stiffens mid step as something strikes him square between the shoulder blades with precise force.
For half a second nothing happen
