Liora’s scream hit my ears like a blade. Sharp, sudden, and wrong. By the time I had spun around to calm her, my knife was ready in my hand. I looked around the cabin. Every corner. Every shadow. Every surface. I knew this place like the back of my hand, but there was nothing. I turned back to Liora.
“Liora—” I started, but she cut herself off mid-breath, the sound dying in her throat. Her gaze shifted from me to the room. I could see the realization settle in. No one was here. The place was exactly how we had left it. Except it wasn’t. The air was wrong. Heavy. Saturated with a scent that wasn’t ours. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but someone had definitely been here. The smell of a male, old leather, and the faint metallic tang of something like danger. I shut the door, checked
