For a moment after Lucien spoke, neither of us moved.
The city continued around us as though nothing had shifted, as though the street remained just another narrow passage between taller buildings, just another line of pavement swallowed by traffic, voices, and the constant movement of strangers who had no idea that something far older than the city itself had just stepped into their world. But the air between us had changed. I felt it before I understood it, and my wolf, who had been restless since the moment I entered the city, suddenly grew still in a way that was somehow more unsettling.
Lucien's gaze had shifted past me, not sharply, not with alarm, but with a kind of recognition that made the space behind me feel charged.
I turned.
