Sera eased off the couch like breath from a sleeping mouth.
She didn't rush. Didn't make a sound. One arm braced against the cushion as she untangled herself from under Lachlan's shoulder, the other pressed flat against the floorboards to keep balance as she slid out of his orbit. His body didn't shift, didn't jerk—but she didn't realize his lashes fluttered once, slow and brief, before his breathing returned to its even rhythm.
She was already gone.
The moment her feet touched the ground, the humming started again.
It was low at first. Like a vibration in the soles of her feet. A crackle in her spine. A pulse just behind her teeth. But it wasn't human adrenaline. No—it was chemical. Biological. Something deeper. Older. Primordial.
The creature stirred, half-risen, pacing like a caged animal just beneath her skin. Her muscles flexed without command. Her jaw ached. The whites of her eyes thinned.
There was something outside.
Something wrong.
