To be sure they had truly left, I opened up the Shifter half of my blood like one would open a door, listening to them retreat further down the stone stairwell. I instantly realized my mistake. With my Shifter senses, her sweet scent of lavender and sage mixed with earthy undertones of amaranth—the same herb I smelled that night in the forest—was infinitely stronger, drawing me in and slowly wrapping around me like smoke. The erratic beat of her heart was heightened in my ears, the pulse at her neck thrumming with life as she took a shallow breath, her eyes shifting back to me. “I think
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