Grayson’s eyes swept Neville’s frame, assessing.

"Nothing," Neville said, rubbing his arms. "It just got cold for a second."

Grayson stared at him for a moment longer before he stepped back.

"Wait here."

Grayson crossed to the living area, retrieved his coat from the back of the dark leather sofa, and returned. Without ceremony, he draped it over Neville’s shoulders.

Like every other coat that Neville had forgotten to return to Grayson, it had a soft fabric lining inside that prevented abrasions to an omega’s sensitive skin.

It also had a strong fresh water scent from Grayson wearing it for a long time.

The scent settled around Neville like a second skin that Neville had to actively suppress the urge to sink into it in front of everyone.

Instead, he plucked at the sleeve, which hung a good four inches past his fingertips.

"It’s too big. It’ll get in the way."

The coat was really big, much bigger than Grayson’s other coats. Neville was not that small, but Grayson just had a bigger build.

Grayson glanced at the excess fabric pooling around Neville’s wrists. His eyes softened, but his lips curled in amusement as he watched Neville busily trying to fold the sleeves back.

"Wear that for now," Grayson said. "I’ll find something that fits."

"Fine. Go." Neville didn’t even look at Grayson as he shooed him away with his hands.

Grayson left without pause.

Bryan, who had watched this entire exchange over the rim of his cards, said nothing. But his mouth curled with a knowing grin, and his eyes were filled with mischief.

Neville saw it and ignored him. When he turned his gaze back at the table.

He froze.

It lasted less than a second.

Red?

Lilianna’s eyes flashed red.

It was bloody red eyes that were gone so quickly that made Neville question his ability.

He was sure that it was not a trick of the light, because the light was glowing yellow, orange, or white, not red.

He was sure that it wasn’t the reflection of the holographic display’s glow because it wasn’t white or blue.

Also, what were those irises?

It retracted into something slant, like those of an animal. It was the first time that he had seen something like that in a human.

If he hadn’t had his vision slowed down, he would’ve missed it.

He kept his face still. Kept his hands on the table. Kept his breathing even.

How can a person’s eyes turn red? What fantasy race had red eyes? Vampires? I don’t want to get my blood suck dry!

Neville scanned the room in panic, hoping for some answers, while pretending to look for the robot servers.

Bryan was reviewing his hand.

Helena’s attention was fixed on Lilianna’s face-down card.

Julius had returned to his arms crossed.

Thiago leaned on the sofa in a comfortable position, scrolling through his light brain.

Pete sat next to Chronos, on his light brain, too.

It looked like no one had really seen it.

Except—

Neville’s gaze swept past Pete and to Chronos, who was leaning on the sofa like a lazy cat, wrapped in a blanket Pete had given him.

Chronos met his eyes.

And smiled.

The kind of smile a person gave when they wanted to say, Yes, I saw it too, and we’ll talk later.

Then Chronos’s gaze slid away, returning to the StarNet feed projected above his light brain as though nothing had happened.

But a private message notification chimed, and Neville looked at it.

The sender ID was unfamiliar, but when he opened it, it was Chronos. Chronos somehow found a way to send him a private message without exchanging contacts.

Under any other circumstances, Neville would have found that mildly alarming. But right now, he found it useful.

[TheDarkness]: Don’t mind it. We’ll deal with it. Act normal.

Neville glanced once more in Chronos’s direction.

Chronos’s posture remained looking boneless, relaxed, while hiding one hand on his stomach underneath the blanket.

To anyone else, he looked like a bored celebrity killing time at a party.

But Neville now knew that this person was acting relaxed.

[YourHope]: Understood. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He closed the message and returned his attention to the table, calm.

But he thought, So this is what Grayson’s been nervous about all evening.

Those red eyes must’ve been the bad news; no wonder everyone was tense.

Grayson even kept him at arm’s length, within line of sight, after making a mistake of leaving him for a bit.

Meanwhile, Chronos momentarily dropped his lazy act after confirming that no one was looking. His fingers moved over his light brain.

He opened a new group channel.

Recipients: Grayson Maxwell, Thiago Miranda, Pete Rowan, Colonel Riley Vane.

[TheDarkness]: Lilianna. Zergs. Confirmed.

Thiago suddenly stopped scrolling. His thumb hovered over the screen for a beat. Then he resumed scrolling, keeping his expression unchanged.

Pete set down his glass unhurriedly. Then he opened a private channel to Colonel Vane.

[NotBookworm]: Need military-grade extraction liquid. Can you get an emergency approval?

Colonel Vane’s reply came in under two seconds.

[Col. Vane]: *Thumbs up*

Short, efficient as always, Pete thought.

Across the room, Grayson received the message mid-stride. He had been heading toward the estate’s second floor to retrieve a smaller jacket, something that would fit Neville’s frame.

It didn’t look like there was something off about him, but his grip on the railing tightened until his knuckles turned white.

His eyes turned cold, and he proceeded to go straight up to the rooftop to assess the surroundings.

He wanted to see if there were additional unwanted living beings within the premises with his portable thermal imaging device.

Sure enough, about a mile or so, there was a cluster of red, non-human figures, approaching

Grayson quickly messaged in the new group chat: Confirmed zergs approaching, approx. 1 mile. Do not panic.

He quickly went downstairs and found the jacket. When he went down, Grayson acted normally and stood behind Neville.

"This one should fit better," he said with a smile.

Neville glanced back, unsuspecting. "Thanks."

Chronos felt the nausea was back, his mind filled with anxiety when he read Grayson’s news. He breathed through his nose, slow and measured.

He silently prayed. Stay calm. Please don’t panic and keep hanging on.