Tina stared at her phone like it had personally betrayed her. Not metaphorically. Personally. Her thumb hovered over the video call icon, frozen mid-air, as if the button might explode if she touched it. Which was ridiculous. Phones didn't explode. People didn't explode. This was fine. Everything was fine.
Except. The air shifted. A faint curl of honey slipped into her senses. Soft. Familiar. Warm in the way that made her chest loosen before her brain caught up. Andrew. Tina frowned.
"…Why do I smell you?"
She muttered to the empty room.
"You're not even here."
Her alpha instincts stirred, confused but not alarmed. Not yet. The scent wasn't panicked. Not sharp. Just… present. Like a memory pressing too close. That was when something colder slid underneath it. Crisp. Controlled. Winter-clean. Elijah. Tina's nose wrinkled immediately.
"…Weird."
She straightened on instinct, spine stiffening, alpha pride bristling.
"Okay, what is this about?"
