The scent hit me first—a hint of lavender and something like spring rain, uniquely hers but altered now. Different. Changed. My wolf surged forward, clawing at my consciousness with such ferocity that it took every ounce of control not to let my eyes shift.
"I asked you a question, Alpha Knight," Blaise repeated, his voice edged with suspicion. "Is there a problem?"
I forced myself to look away from her—from Elara, my mate—and fixed Blaise with a neutral stare. "No problem. Just thought I recognized someone."
Julian shifted uncomfortably beside me, a silent warning I ignored. I turned back, but she was gone, disappeared around a corner like a ghost. The phantom ache in my chest—the one that never quite went away—throbbed with renewed intensity.
"Florence, you mean?" Blaise said, watching me carefully.
Florence. A false name for a woman I once knew better than myself.