“Not normally,” Talon said, eyes narrowing on me, “but you’re very close to heat, Rowan. Your scent is—”
Ryker cut in with a grin, “Fucking yummy.”
My eyes darted around the gym, and suddenly I wasveryaware of the attention on me. A few alphas who usually kept their gaze firmly away from me because of Ryker and Talon were now openly scenting the air, eyes flicking toward me like they couldn’t help it.
“Time to go,” Talon said, voice darkening as he stepped closer. He’d noticed the shift in energy too.
Talon, who usually let me walk on my own, fastened his tattooed hand at the base of my neck and steered me out of the gym. Ryker took point, leading us toward the dorm with uncharacteristic focus. I tried to douse my arousal, tried to smother the scent leaking off me, but even the weight of Talon’s hand on my neck sent sparks rushing through me.
“Fuck,” Ryker groaned under his breath.
“Move faster,” Talon barked. “Rowan, eyes down. Do notlook at anyone.”
I did exactly what he said. Within minutes, we crossed the threshold into our dorm. Cade must have heard the door because he stepped out of his room, eyes narrowed as he scanned the tension on our faces.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, looking between the three of us.
“Nothing…” I muttered, cheeks burning.
Cade scented the air. His gaze snapped to Talon.
“She’s close to heat, Cade. She needs to stay in the dorm from now on. Her scent was drawing every alpha in that gym.”
Cade nodded once and motioned for Talon to follow him, clearly about to discuss something privately.
“Hey! No. If this is about me, I want to know too,” I demanded, crossing my arms.
Cade sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and dropped onto the couch. “I suppose you’d just eavesdrop anyway.”
We all moved to sit, waiting for him to continue. Killian emerged from his room and leaned against the wall.
“We’re leaving,” Cade said.
“What? Leaving and going where? Back to Falcon City?” I looked between them, but none of the alphas looked remotely surprised. Which meant they all knew this information already.
“Leaving New Arca,” Cade clarified.
“What!?” I stared at him, horrified. “We can’t leave New Arca. Where would we even go? Helix Territory? That’s almost as bad as the Northern Borderlands—”
“We’re not going to Helix.”
“Phew, that’s good. Okay. Then where?”
“The Northern Borderlands.”
I didn’t need to speak. My face said everything. My expression might as well have yelled, “You’re fucking joking, right?”
“There’s a faction of shifters growing in the north,” Cade said. “For decades, they lived in small, scattered, hidden colonies. Years ago, Arca launched raids, rounding them up to recondition and conscript them. That's why they took your mother.”
“The ones who survived didn’t stay put,” he continued. “They fled farther north and disappeared completely. For decades, Command thought the problem was solved.”
Cade’s expression darkened. “They were wrong. The packs have reemerged recently, larger and far more organized than before. They’re no longer hiding, and they’ve started attacking Arca soldiers on northern missions.”
"Why haven't I heard about any of this?" I asked.
“Command won’t admit how serious it’s become,” he added. “They don’t want to acknowledge a threat they helped create.”
Ryker nodded. Talon stayed silent. Killian simply watched me, unreadable.
