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“The south wall door,” Pike said, helpfully, “faces the north quarter.”

More silence.

“Where she is,” Pike said, even more helpfully and gently, like a man fond of the person he was describing.

Tor finished his pie with a calm, knowing look that seemed to say, ‘I’ve seen you all along, and honestly, I’m not even a bit shocked.’

Drayce had nothing useful to say about any of this. His wolf didn’t either, which was new.

“Three seconds is a long time,” Tor agreed, without looking up.

Pike opened the notebook. “Adding a section.”

He wrote for a moment. The café moved around them — other people having a normal morning, unlike Drayce, who was not.

“For the record,” Pike said, then closed the notebook properly this time. Not as documentation. As himself. “I like her.”

“You’ve never met her.”

“I know enough.” He pulled the notebook back open.

Drayce looked at him.

“She’s good for you,” Pike said. He didn’t make it a joke. “I can tell. You’ve run on discipline and duty for thirty years, and you looked at that woman on the boardwalk and added a character endorsement to a council record the next morning. That’s nothing.”

“What are you writing?”

“That you know the lease terms.” He looked up. “You’ve known she exists for fewer than forty-eight hours.”

Drayce looked at the table.

His wolf found this entirely reasonable and offered no apology. The lease terms were relevant operational information. Obviously, his wolf had never questioned their relevance and was not going to start.

Pike opened to the red tab. “Colleen.”

“I know.”

“She asked one question and then stopped asking. She had more — I could see the papers. She pulled back.” He looked at Drayce steadily. “She was there for a reason that wasn’t the briefing.”

“Watch her.”

“Already started.” He closed the notebook. “The red tab has its own system, and Bexley helped with the categories.”

“How many people are you talking to about this?”

“Relevant parties.” He was unbothered by the question. “Bexley is very organized.”

Tor set down his fork. He looked at Drayce, steady and patient. “The Rift noticed her the same night she arrived. That’s not going to stop.”

“I know.”

“You need to be close to the situation.”

“Agreed.”

“Professionally,” Tor said, and then he didn’t say anything else, because with Tor, the anything else was always already in the room.

Drayce studied his brother for a long moment. Tor met his gaze the same way he always did — like he’d been waiting for Drayce to arrive at whatever he’d arrived at, and he wasn’t remotely surprised it had taken this long.