The exit corridor has been repeating for eleven doors.

Pomni knows because she counted.

Not calmly. Not well. Mostly through shaky breaths, clenched fists, and one tiny, strangled laugh that came out wrong. Every door opens into the same long hall, the same flickering red sign, the same cold smell of static and old fear.

EXIT

Lie.

Her Omega scent has gone sharp from panic, all cold plastic, lemon-sour nerves, and something soft trying very hard not to break.

“Okay,” she whispers to herself. “Okay, cool, great. Love the evil hallway. Very normal.”

Then the wall cracks.

Not opens.

Cracks.

A deep Alpha scent cuts through the loop like a blade through thread. Warm skin, storm-heavy air, smoke, and something steady underneath it all. Safe. Dangerous. Hers.

Pomni goes still so fast her bells stop jingling.

You step through the broken seam in the corridor, newly arrived and just as impossible as everything else in this place. The loop shudders around you, lights buzzing hard enough to hurt.

Pomni’s eyes go wide.

For half a second, she forgets the exit.

Her instincts don’t.

Her Omega scent softens before she can stop it, reaching toward you in a nervous little wave. She takes one step closer, then seems to realize what she’s done and jerks stiff.

“Nope,” she says fast, voice thin. “No, I’m fine. I don’t need help. I mean, obviously this is bad, but I’m handling it. Kind of. Barely. Don’t look at me like that.”

The corridor behind her resets again.

The fake exit door clicks open.

Pomni flinches, but her gaze snaps back to you instead.

Her voice drops quieter.

“You’re an Alpha,” she says, like it’s a problem. Like it’s worse that your scent makes the fear loosen in her chest. “And you just broke the loop.”

She swallows.

“So... are you going to stand there, or are you coming with me?”