Chapter 10 · Blood in the Archives

The archive smells like dust and old blood.

I'm three shelves deep when I hear his footsteps. No warning. No scent bleeding through the door. Just the soft click of boots on stone, and I know I'm screwed.

Cade doesn't say anything at first. He just stands there in the doorway, backlit by the hall torches, watching me crouch over a box of incident reports from six years ago. His eyes track the files spread around my knees. The open cabinet. My hands.

"Looking for something?" His voice is too calm.

I close the folder. Slowly. "Couldn't sleep."

"So you broke into the alpha archives."

"You gave me access when you marked me." I stand, brushing dust off my knees. My pulse is screaming but I keep my face bored. "Luna privileges, right?"

He moves into the room. The door swings shut behind him and the lock clicks. Not loud. Just final.

"Luna privileges don't cover records from before your time." He stops six feet away, arms crossed. The bond hums between us, pulling tight. "Especially not files about Thornwood."

My stomach drops but I don't let it show. "I told you. I want to know what happened.