"STAY BEHIND ME, SHADOW," Mailah whispered, though she knew the cat was the one leading the way.
The smoke didn't smell like a normal wood fire. This was different. It was sharp and metallic that made the hair on her arms stand up.
Shadow didn't look like a normal cat anymore. In the dim hallway, her amber eyes weren't just reflecting light—they were glowing with a steady, inner flame. She padded silently across the floor, her tail twitching in a rhythmic, warning beat.
Mailah's phone flashlight cut a narrow path through the haze.
She reached the library doors—the heavy, mahogany slabs that usually felt like an impenetrable fortress. One of them was slightly ajar, and a thin, wispy finger of grey smoke was curling out from the crack.
Mailah took a deep breath.
Grayson had told her to stay in her room. He had looked truly afraid when he said it. But after that kiss in the dream—after seeing the blue-eyed man beneath the dark-eyed Prince—she couldn't just hide under her covers.
