MasukBen’s voice is low. “And to scare you.”“Yes,” I reply. “To make me hesitate next time.”The spokesperson’s briefing shifts tone, questions coming faster now as reporters push for accountability, and I watch carefully as the narrative tightens, the blame narrowing like a funnel.“Do you accept respo
The alerts begin arriving in a pattern that feels wrong before I can explain why, not clustered around the corridor we just left and not tied to any of the access points Sally flagged, but blooming outward instead, lighting up a different part of the map with a timing that is too neat to be accident
The corridor outside is empty, too empty, and my wolf tracks every sound, every shift in pressure, every vibration through the floor, because this building has been my home long enough that I know when it is being used against itself.We reach the junction where the service corridor branches off, an
The decision to name the threat has barely left my mouth before the building answers it, not with words or alarms, but with the subtle shift that comes when systems stop pretending they are neutral, and I feel it immediately in the way the air seems to tighten around us.Sally is still standing near
Sally follows a step behind me, fingers moving on her tablet, eyes sharp.“Destination still not disclosed,” she murmurs.“Noted,” I reply.We reach the junction where the corridor splits toward the lifts and the stairwell, and without discussion the officers angle toward the lifts.“No,” I say.The
The decision barely has time to settle in my chest before it becomes action, because systems do not wait once they believe they have permission, and the shift happens around us quietly enough that anyone not already watching would miss it.Ben’s tablet vibrates first.He glances down, and I see the







