40: Traces of Darkness

Alexa “I had seen it, you know?” I protested. “Yes, but you don’t need to look at it any longer than that,” Harlow muttered in a low voice as he turned my body around to face away from it. “Stay here. I’ll check it out first.” I knew he only wanted to protect me, but he should have known that a few blood spatters wouldn’t shake my resolve. My eyes were used to seeing bloody battles, though I had never seen as much as that corpse had. Still, I obeyed my mate—he might have known better. Something was wrong. The stench grew stronger, making my head dizzy. My stomach churned at the fleeting sight I had caught earlier, as if the image imprinted in my long-term memory. The sound of Harlow’s footsteps echoed through the small cave with its dried-up water channel. “What happened to him, Harlow?” I asked, trying to distract my senses from the scent that was making my heart race. ‘Curiosity killed the cat, you know?’ Mythril disagreed with my digging deeper into the discovery of that corpse. ‘Go