The building they chose was half standing and mercifully quiet, a slab of concrete ribs and broken glass that had somehow survived the collapse of the surrounding blocks. The roof still held. The stairwell had not fallen. Wind slid through shattered windows, but not hard enough to carry light or fire smoke out into the streets.
Victor cleared it the way he cleared everything now—methodical, silent. He moved from room to room until every corner had been checked twice. Voss followed the sweep in a different rhythm. He was slower, his attention cutting through sightlines and structural weaknesses. He mapped exits, choke points, and angles. Sometimes, he expected something to come through a wall rather than a door.
Old instincts settled over them quickly. The ruin stopped feeling like a ruin and started feeling like a temporary den.
Fires were kept low and shielded by fallen masonry. No lights were allowed near open windows. Snow Team spread through the building without being told where to stand. The shape they formed was neither deliberate nor accidental. It simply folded around Felicity the way a body folds around a heartbeat.
By the time Victor returned to the main room, she had made a nest without meaning to.
Felicity sat on a thick, folded blanket dragged from Victor's storage space, her back against a cracked pillar that still held part of the ceiling. Her shoulders looked small in the oversized jacket someone had wrapped around her. Her tail curled loosely around her hip, the tip flicking now and then as if she were still half listening to the world outside.
Luna and Frost had claimed her completely.
Luna slept draped across Felicity's lap like a little heater, one arm hooked stubbornly into the front of Felicity's shirt so she could not roll away even in sleep. Her hair had come loose during the day's chaos, pale strands sticking across her cheek while she breathed slowly and deeply. Every now and then, her nose twitched, and her fingers tightened as if she were chasing something warm through a dream.
Frost had wedged himself along Felicity's side with absolute determination, small body tucked under her arm and his cheek pressed against her ribs. His hands were curled in the fabric of her sleeve. Even asleep, he refused to let go.
The boy's shield ability showed itself in strange ways when he slept. The air around him carried a faint pressure, almost like standing near thick glass. It was not active protection. More like instinct. A quiet hum of indestructibility sits just beneath his skin.
They were warm.
Soft.
Alive.
Felicity ran her fingers through Luna's hair slowly, careful not to wake her, thumb brushing over Frost's temple when his brow creased in sleep. Her hands were gentle in a way that made the room feel quieter.
Snow Team watched her the way people watched fire in winter.
Rose sat nearby with her back against a chunk of fallen wall. Her arms folded loosely, vines coiled lazily over her boots like bored snakes. Her sharp mouth had gone unusually quiet. Tommy pretended to check a magazine for his rifle for the third time in ten minutes. Sarge leaned against a doorway, massive shoulders relaxed, but his eyes still swept the corridors.
Even Ash, who rarely stopped moving, had slowed enough to sit on an overturned crate.
Victor approached last.
When he stepped into Felicity's line of sight, she looked up instantly. The exhaustion in her face didn't hide the way her eyes lit when they found him.
The reaction landed in Victor's chest like something physical.
He crouched beside her without a word, one large hand brushing gently over Luna's back so he could reach Felicity's shoulder.
"Come," he said quietly.
Her gaze flicked to the children.
"They won't wake," Victor assured her.
Frost shifted in his sleep but only burrowed deeper against her ribs, cheek pressing harder into her side.
Rose waved a hand lazily from the floor. "Go. We've got the cubs."
"Don't drop them," Felicity murmured.
Tommy looked offended. "Rude."
Victor helped her stand slowly, careful not to disturb the small bodies tangled in her arms, before Rose slid closer and lifted Luna without waking her. Frost made a small noise of protest, but Ash's hand settled lightly on his back, and the boy went still again.
Victor guided Felicity toward a corner room where a half-collapsed wall still gave enough cover to feel private.
The moment they stepped inside, Felicity's carefully held control fractured. The strain in her posture gave way to a trembling collapse, emotion flashing raw and unguarded across her face.
Felicity folded into him like gravity had suddenly doubled. The rough sound that tore out of her wasn't quiet or restrained; it held all the pain and fear she had been forcing down, her breath catching in short, shuddering sobs.
It was raw.
Her whole body shook violently as if something inside her—pain, fear, relief—had finally erupted. Tears streamed silently and hotly, her fingers desperate in Victor's jacket, grabbing as if he anchored her to the earth.
Victor wrapped both arms around her immediately, pulling her tight against his chest.
He had held her before. Held her in battle. Carried her through danger. But this was different.
This was shelter.
His chin pressed into her hair. Her sobs broke loose in violent waves, breath hitching so hard she could barely inhale between them.
"I'm sorry," he murmured against her temple, voice rough in a way Snow Team almost never heard. "I failed you. I should never have left you there. I should have burned that place down sooner."
She shook her head fiercely, face buried against him.
"You came back," she managed through broken breaths. "Victor, you came back. You burned everything. You found me."
That broke something inside him.
His hands tightened around her back, and one large palm carefully cradled the back of her head. He pressed slow kisses into her hair, her forehead, and the corners of her eyes when she lifted her face just enough for him to reach them. Each touch was gentle.
Almost reverent.
Each one felt like both apology and vow.
Felicity cried until her chest ached sharply, the sobs wracking her whole frame, tears soaking into his jacket. Her voice dwindled to a dry, hoarse whisper. Victor never once hushed her or looked away; he just held on tighter, silent and unyielding.
He just held her.
Eventually, the storm in her chest burned itself out. Her breathing slowed in uneven pulls while Victor's hand moved slowly along her back, steady and grounding.
When she finally lifted her head, she saw Voss already standing in the doorway, watching quietly. He had been waiting just outside.
Voss had purposely given them space, staying out of sight so the moment belonged to them first. The moment Victor stepped back half a step, Voss crossed the room to join Felicity and Victor.
His eyes searched her face carefully, taking in the swollen red around her eyes, the way her lashes still clung together with tears.
"You don't get to disappear like that," he said quietly.
His voice cracked halfway through the sentence.
Felicity let out a weak laugh that turned into another small sniff.
"I'm sorry."
Voss stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
He did not crush her the way Victor sometimes did. His hold was different. Firm and anchored, like a wall that had no intention of ever moving.
His forehead pressed against hers.
"I ran every outcome," he murmured. "Every angle. Every variable. None of them included losing you."
Her hands curled into the front of his shirt.
"I'm here."
"Yes," Voss said softly. "You are."
He kissed her once.
Just once.
Gentle and grounding, lips brushing hers in a way that felt less like hunger and more like sealing something fragile back together.
When they finally returned to the main room, the cubs had not moved.
Luna still slept curled against Rose's side, tiny hand fisted in the lion woman's sleeve, while Rose glared down at it as she had personally been ambushed by affection.
"Your child is sticky," Rose muttered.
"She drooled on me," Tommy added helpfully.
Frost remained tucked against Ash's side with his head tipped back and mouth slightly open, faint shield pressure humming lazily around him like a sleeping animal.
The moment Felicity knelt again, both cubs shifted instinctively toward her warmth without waking.
Luna crawled halfway into her lap, small face pressing into Felicity's stomach. Frost hooked an arm around her waist and sighed softly.
Felicity's throat tightened again, but this time the tears stayed quiet.
Victor and Voss settled beside her without speaking.
Victor stretched out behind her, one arm wrapping easily around her waist while she leaned back into the warmth of his chest. Voss lay on her other side, one hand resting lightly along her back where he could feel the rise and fall of her breathing.
The cubs remained tangled with her like little satellites orbiting something bright and safe.
Outside the room, Damien watched the doorway and pretended he wasn't listening to the quiet sounds inside.
Every instinct in his body still pulled him toward her. Toward the warmth in that room. Toward the scent that had been haunting him since the moment he first caught it in the air.
But he stayed where he was.
Back against the cracked pillar. Eyes scanning shadows. Snow Team moved around him slowly.
Assessing.
Sarge was the first to approach "You didn't run," he said.
Damien shrugged slightly. "Didn't feel right."
Ash joined them next, arms folded.
"You stayed even when Victor didn't kill you."
Damien huffed. "Low bar."
A snort sounded somewhere behind him.
Tommy walked up a moment later and stared at him for a second before asking bluntly, "If you're her mate, why aren't you sleeping with her?"
The silence that followed was lethal.
Rose smacked Tommy across the back of the head "Are you stupid on purpose?"
"OW!"
"They're not mated," Rose snapped.
Tommy blinked.
Then slowly grinned, "Oh. Ohhh. You're like us."
Damien frowned.
"I'm not sure how to take that."
Ash sighed. "He's actually further along than we are."
Tommy blinked again. "How is that worse?"
Rose smirked. "Because it means he got there without being an idiot."
Damien laughed quietly before he could stop himself.
Rose noticed.
"Careful," she said, eyes narrowing. "You keep bantering with us, and we'll decide you're family."
"Is that a threat?"
"Absolutely."
From the room behind them, Felicity shifted in her sleep. A quiet murmur followed by Victor's low voice answering softly.
Damien's shoulders eased without thinking.
Rose watched the reaction and snorted, "Yeah," she said. "She does that."
Damien nodded once.
"Yeah."