He walked through the gym doors like it was just another day.
Sunlight cut sharp lines across the rubberized floor, dust drifting lazily through the hot summer air as Lachlan strode in—his shirt slightly damp, his hair still wet from a shower, grinning like he hadn't just been branded with something irreversible.
Sera was behind the front desk, counting weights and pretending to care.
Until he stepped through the threshold.
And her entire body went still.
Something inside her snapped taut—tight as piano wire—then sang out with violent warning.
The creature inside her lunged, not physically but mentally, slamming against the barrier between bone and sinew. Her skin crawled. Her heart beat twice, then stuttered. Every instinct screamed. Kill. Kill now. Kill him before he kills us.
