The corridor felt too narrow, though Elias knew every inch of it by heart now.
Robert's shadow stayed ahead of him, measured and purposeful, a living wall between him and whatever had just been dragged out of his room. The two other alphas flanked them like silent sentinels, their ether still crackling faintly in the air, a low, golden hum from one, a sharper violet shimmer from the other, residual power radiating off them in restless waves.
Elias's steps were steady, but his pulse was not. His phone was still in his hand, Matteo's voice an ugly, tinny echo he hadn't yet cut off. He should have ended the call the moment Robert had appeared, but some part of him wanted to hear every word, to hear Matteo bury himself further in the delusion Elias now saw clearly.
"Elias," Matteo breathed on the other end, soft, frantic. "Elias, talk to me. Don't listen to him. Don't listen to anyone else. Just open the door…"
