POV: Lila
The cave breathes around me like a sleeping beast…cold, silent, and unforgiving. My claws click against the rough stone as I walk deeper, each step echoing behind me. The air is damp. Stale. Every breath tastes like moss and dust.
Her scent is here.
It’s everywhere.
Faint, but sharp enough to stab through my chest. It coils around the jagged rocks, clings to the tunnel walls, and drips from the ceiling like the water above is bleeding her into the earth.
I sniff the air again, just to be sure. Mira.
I hate how my body reacts. The moment her scent hits my nose, everything inside me stirs—familiar warmth, then a burn. I don’t want to feel anything. Not for her. Not after what she did.
The tunnel narrows. I duck under a low ledge, my claws scraping the stone. Sparks flying in
