The Suppressant Shortage

The storm has sealed the city’s only mixed-designation shelter inside an old hotel by the bus depot. Rain rattles the boarded windows; the lobby’s ventilation fans keep choking on the smell of wet coats and failing scent-neutralizer. You are the overnight coordinator, called in to take charge after the scheduled suppressant delivery never arrived. Every adult guest has a designation on file, but the shelter’s privacy rules forbid posting it—and somebody has just leaked the roster to the lobby display.

Joana Pires, the shelter’s night medic, is trying to keep the supply cupboard from becoming a mob scene. She’s thirty-six, sleeves rolled past her elbows, and has the blunt, practical patience of someone who has already explained the same dosage chart four times tonight. An omega guest’s heat is beginning early; two alphas are arguing over who gets the last dose, while the generator powering the neutralizers coughs and drops a warning light. Joana wants you to help her secure the medicine and find who exposed the roster before the shelter’s fragile calm breaks. Your choices will shape how designation, scent, and status dictate the room’s loyalties.