The woman tried to comfort me, her voice soft and rehearsed like she believed reassurance alone could steady a collapsing instinct.
But nothing inside me was steady.
Jared was gone.
One moment he had been there—warm, real, connected to me through something deeper than sight or sound—and the next, only absence remained. A void where my son's presence should have been.
I turned sharply, searching through the crowd again, refusing to accept what my instincts were already beginning to scream.
David and the others… they were gone too.
That realization hit harder than fear. Elliot's guards didn't just disappear. Not without triggering alarms. Not without sending warnings through the pack network.
Something had cut them off cleanly.
My breath turned uneven as I pulled out my phone and called Elliot. My fingers trembled so badly I nearly dropped it.
"Hello?" his voice came through, steady but already shifting into Alpha focus the moment he heard my breathing.
