I woke to the unsettling sensation of being watched.
The room was dim, silver light filtering in through the slats of the blinds. The air was still, charged with something that set every hair on my body on edge. I blinked the sleep from my eyes, heart already racing before my brain caught up. Something was wrong.
Kael sat beside my bed.
Not across the room. Not lounging at his desk. Right there—perched in the rickety chair I usually kept buried under hoodies and spare towels. Elbows on his knees, fingers steepled beneath his chin, eyes locked on me like I was a puzzle he was already half through solving.
“What the hell—” I croaked, voice scratchy with sleep and dread.
He didn’t wait for me to finish.
“You shed,” he said flatly, voice devoid of emotion. He held something between his f
