Elias’ POV

Ronan didn’t touch me.

That was the first thing I registered when silence settled over the empty lab.

He didn’t step closer, didn’t grab me, didn’t cage me against the counter even though I could feel the tension in him, the instinctual, feral pressure of an Alpha holding himself back by force.

He just watched me, And that was somehow worse.

The lights buzzed weakly overhead. My pulse pounded in my ears. My collar lay dormant again, the warning glow gone, but the ghost ...