I do not breathe at first.
None of us do.
The girl stands in front of us, trembling from head to toe, a small bag clutched so tightly against her chest that her knuckles have gone white. She looks like she has run for days without stopping. Mud streaks her calves. There is a leaf stuck in her hair. And her eyes, wide and dark, dart from Felix to me to Ember, desperate and scared and hopeful all at once.
Felix does not move.
He is frozen so completely that I swear even the wind pauses to watch him.
His breath stutters but never fully returns. His eyes glow faintly, bluer than I have ever seen them, the exact shade of frost catching sunlight.
The mate bond hit him like a hammer.
The girl stumbles forward one shaky step. “I… I followed your scent.”
Her voice is small. Soft. Fragile in
