DALTON POV
I’d seen the shift in Kai’s posture the second she caught it—the twitch in her shoulders, the sudden widening of her nostrils, the subtle tremor in her lips as she exhaled. Her whole body reacted before her mind did, like prey recognizing the predator’s stench.
And then I smelled it too.
Reyes.
That acrid, greasy stench that clung to the back of my throat like burnt oil and rot, seeping into my lungs until every breath tasted like corrosion. It was the kind of smell that lived in the fire, not the cozy fireplaces in a mountain cabin or the fires camping kids use to cook smoores, it was like the fire that destroyed a gas station, the kind you never washed out, not from skin, not from memory.
Shade rumbled instantly, deep in my chest, claws scraping against the inside of my r
