I didn't move. Didn't speak. Just let the moment exist.
RJ pulled his knees up to his chest. Wrapped his arms around them. His eyes stayed fixed on the middle distance, but I felt him lean—just slightly, barely perceptibly—toward me.
"Lumi."
RJ's voice was rough. Unused to forming words. But it was there.
"Yeah?"
"The counting game. Stone told you about it."
"He mentioned it."
Silence. "I remembered the rest." His hands tightened on his knees. "After. In my room. I remembered the other wolves. The ones who didn't make it out."
This was what healing looked like.
Not dramatic breakthroughs or miraculous recoveries. Just moments. Small connections. Wolves who'd been shattered finding tiny pieces of themselves and carefully, painfully putting them back together.
The main door banged open.
"Alexandra, wait—"
A small blur of motion rocketed into the common room.
Alexandra.
She was supposed to be with Ash and Rae, who were visiting the Healing Center for a facilities review. But apparently, she'd escaped. Again.
"Lulu!" she shrieked, her face splitting into a grin.
I opened my arms, expecting her to barrel into me the way she always did.
She didn't.
She made a hard right turn and launched herself directly into RJ's lap.
Everyone froze.
Gray's puzzle book slipped from his fingers. The staff member by the door made an aborted movement forward. I felt my whole body go rigid with fear.
RJ had gone completely still. His eyes were wide, shocked, his arms hovering awkwardly at his sides like he had no idea what to do with them.
Alexandra, oblivious to the tension she'd created, settled herself comfortably against his chest.
"You're warm," she announced. "Daddy Ash is warm too but you're warmer."
RJ didn't move. Didn't breathe.
"I'm Alexandra," she continued, reaching up to pat his face with one chubby hand. "I'm three. How old are you?"
"I..." RJ's voice came out strangled. "I don't..."
"That's okay. Sometimes I forget too." She spotted the puzzle book on the floor and pointed. "Is that yours? I like puzzles. Mama says I'm too little for the hard ones but I'm not. I'm very smart."
"Alexandra!"
Ash appeared in the doorway, Rae right behind him. Both of them looked frazzled—and then terrified as they took in the scene.
