** Ryder’s POV **

Dinner feels almost normal. The sound of laughter, the warmth of the kitchen, the way Paige’s smile makes everything else bearable. For a while, we pretend everything’s fine, but even as I laugh at Jaxon’s terrible joke, a part of me stays on alert. The scent of worry clings to Remy, faint but unmistakable. Callen feels it too. I can see it in the way his jaw ticks, in the glances he keeps throwing at the window.

By the time we finish eating, the sun’s dipped ...