= Elias =
“Alpha.”
The single word sliced cleanly through my thoughts.
I lifted my head at once, the haze in my mind snapping into sharp focus as my eyes found the familiar figure standing just beyond my desk. Greg—my beta—had stopped a few steps away, close enough to speak freely but far enough to show respect. His expression hovered between confusion and concern, brows drawn tight, eyes scanning my face as if he were searching for something I hadn’t meant to reveal.
I didn’t miss it.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice even.
I set the document in my hand down on the table. The paper made a soft, almost insignificant sound as it touched the polished wood, but to me it marked a shift—whatever I’d been buried in seconds ago no longer mattered. The unfinished reports, the scattered notes,
