The lights went out.
Not dimmed. Not flickered. Just—gone. Like someone had yanked the cord on the whole world.
Julian moved faster than I could blink.
In one sharp breath, I was behind him, his arm stretched out in front of me like a shield, his entire body tensed, alert. His energy flared—quiet, controlled, but unmistakably there. Not dangerous, not aggressive, but present in that deep, bone-sure way he got when he was ready to tear through anything in his path.
I knew without looking that his expression had gone full protector-mode. That kind of hyper-focus where the rest of the world disappeared, and the only thing that mattered was keeping me safe.
"If anything tries to come through that door," I whispered, "I'm guessing it's about to meet the business end of your very glowy energy hands."
"Hopefully it won't come to that," he murmured, eyes locked on the darkened room ahead of us. But his voice was low. Calculating. Not scared, just… watching.
