Ava's breathing had finally leveled.
Her body, still tangled in his, had stopped trembling. The warmth of his skin, the deep rhythm of his heart, the low thrum of core-laced blood moving through him—it all pressed into her like a sedative.
She didn't mean to rest her head against his chest.
She didn't mean to let her eyes drift shut.
But her system had quieted, her pulse had slowed, and for the first time in days, the weight in her muscles began to lift.
Then the lights behind her eyes glitched.
A flicker.
Then—nothing.
A soft hum started in the base of her skull, not audible, not painful, but present. A frequency that made her molars itch and her spine straighten.
She sat bolt upright.
Lucas didn't move.
But her vision did.
[INTEGRATION LINK DETECTED]
[System: Monopoly Appraisal – Contract-Tether Active]
[Blueprint System: Passive Sync Override Enabled]
[Entering: Main Contract Exchange — User Thread Visibility: INHERITED]
