The night stretched endlessly above Axel as he stood in the middle of a narrow, dimly lit alleyway. The air was damp, thick with the scent of old brick and rain-soaked pavement, the occasional flickering streetlight casting long, broken shadows across the walls. The city hummed beyond these walls, but here, it was quiet—too quiet for his liking.
His fingers tightened around the phone in his hand, his jaw clenching as he stared at the screen. No response. Again. He had called Raelynn multiple times. Texted. Nothing. It wasn't like her to ignore him for this long. A cold knot twisted in his gut, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong.
