The next night,

Author

The alert came at 3:47 AM.

Aria was awake. She was always awake at 3:47 AM. It was the hour when the world was most vulnerable. When guards changed shifts. When sleep was deepest. When assassins moved.

She answered on the first ring. “Report.”

“House Seven is burning.” Aquarius. His voice was flat. Mechanical. The fox shifter had been running interference on three networks simultaneously and still sounded bored. “House Twelve took indirect fire. House Three is surrounded.”

“Casualties?”

“None yet. But they’re not trying to kill us. They’re trying to flush us.”

She was already moving. She pulled on her combat gear with one hand...