The café was busier than usual that afternoon.
Customers came and went in a steady stream. Office workers grabbed late coffee between meetings. Students hunched over laptops near the windows. Tourists studied the menu carefully, whispering to each other while deciding what to order.
To everyone else, it was an ordinary day.
But Damian Roberts felt the shift in the air almost immediately.
Omega instincts were strange that way. Subtle. Sensitive. They noticed changes before logic caught up. A difference in energy. A tension beneath the surface. A warning without words.
And today something felt wrong.
He wiped down the counter slowly, glancing toward the door without meaning to.
Nothing unusual.
Just another customer leaving.
Another walking in.
Still, the uneasy feeling did not fade.
It lingered.
Sharp.
Persistent.
Like the quiet pressure before a storm.
Lila noticed it too.
