Misery finds Alex trying, with little success, to teach Lowe how to code. Lowe is clumsy with the computer, blames the machine, and is ready to hit it, while Alex grows increasingly alarmed. Misery steps in to watch the exchange and learns that Lowe is trying to prepare for some operation involving code, traps, and a situation where he may have to improvise remotely with Alex guiding him by phone.

Mick interrupts to announce that Ana has cooked dinner and specifically asked for Misery to come. At the table with Lowe, Mick, Alex, and Ana, Misery reflects on how strange but welcome it is to be included. After a difficult start in Were territory, she has spent the past week being drawn into casual social time with the pack, and this meal feels like the first family dinner she has ever had. She awkwardly imitates eating, Ana notices, and the conversation shifts into jokes about roller skates, birthdays, and how Vampyres do not really celebrate or gather socially except for strategy. When Mick mentions that Misery's blood delivery will be delayed, Misery teases Alex about becoming her next food source until Lowe quietly takes her hand, stops the joke, and explains that she still has blood left.

Ana decides Misery needs an invented birthday and starts planning a party, but the mood changes when Mick mentions that Lowe will be gone that weekend. Under questions from Ana and Misery, Lowe admits he is going to California, into another pack's territory, and that Uncle Koen will be there. Mick objects strongly, and Misery realizes the destination involves Emery, Roscoe's former mate, whose house Lowe wants access to.

Mick argues that Emery is behind the current trouble and that Lowe is walking into a trap, especially if he goes without someone tech-savvy to help. Lowe refuses to act against Emery without solid proof, dismissing Max's compromised confession as insufficient for a tribunal, and says that entering Emery's home is the best way to get evidence. He insists that, as Alpha, the risk is his duty and that he can handle her guards. Although the conversation returns to Ana's birthday-party plans and lighter banter, Misery is left aware of the danger ahead and notices Mick watching her with worry.