My hands were still shaking slightly as I climbed the stairs to room 217 at the Oak Knot. My backpack sat exactly where I’d left it. I wasted no time grabbing for it and looking around in one final sweep.
Because if I stopped too long, Vrika would stir in agitation. Restless in my mindscape because... my mind was also restless. My wolf kept replaying the moment Kyrie had pinned that rogue and the moment I brushed close to her.
The deadly promise in her voice that I fully believed she’d make good on if needed. The way she’d frozen completely when I’d commanded her not to move. How it made me feel wrong and powerful all at once.
> Just let me cool off, you can bring it up later. But also - don’t bring it up later! He must have connections here. Someone who told him what I was up to... but who? Yes, damn you. I’m thinking about her. I’m allowed to think what I want or don’t in my own soul! Why do I even care? Whether I want her to keep her distance or want her to never give up, the apocalypse is still coming. The child is still on its way. Those things won’t change. And none of that is the fault of the baby inside me. At least if I understand how this has been working correctly. As if I understand anything around me lately... <
The Apocalypse System itself offered no easy explanation, of course. Instead, a new blue glowing hexagonal icon materialized in my interface next to the pack roster. With what looked like a ’heartbeat waveform’ running through the center.
No matter how suspiciously timed, I activated the icon just to stop thinking about other things. The new interface expanded before me, displaying a complex arrangement of unfilled sections. Most curious was the center where a three-dimensional rendering of a sphere spun slowly.
Its ’wire mesh’ look - 🌐 - reminded me of a symbol on the phone’s internet browser. Seeing something in the interface moving like that was strange and my fingertips reached toward it instinctively... activating a slightly green colored glow around my hand.