I took a step back, but the floor creaked under my foot. Alaric opened the door and found me standing there. He looked startled. Guilty, even. He stepped outside, pulled the door shut behind him, and led me to a corner of the hallway. His scent, cedar and cold iron and storm ozone, pressed close in the narrow space, but underneath it clung something else. Night jasmine. Copper. Her.
"Selene… you heard that, didn't you?" he asked hesitantly.
I didn't say anything.
He hesitated again before speaking. "Ravenna's been having trouble sleeping. Do you think you could let her borrow the token for a bit?"
I nodded slowly, but at that moment, a sharp pain twisted through my side. I winced and swallowed it down.
"I'll give it to her, but on one condition."
Alaric's face lit up like I'd just handed him the moon. He stepped toward me, ready to wrap me in a hug, but I took a step back before he could touch me.
Ravenna's scent was all over him, that cloying night jasmine threaded through with copper and wet ash. It made me want to gag. Somewhere deep in my chest, my wolf curled away from it, pressing herself small against the far wall of my ribs.