Jaxen POV
Giving Scarlett anything from the house felt like a cheap trick. Like handing her back pieces of a life I’d already taken from her.
No. If I were doing this, it had to mean something.
I walked into King’s Mall with that stubborn thought locked in place.
The place hit me all at once: insobriety lights, too many people, the overlapping stink of perfume counters, food court grease, and the faint chemical bite of new plastic.
My wolf stirred under my skin, restless. He didn’t like crowds. Too many scents. Too much noise.
But the second my mind snagged on the memory of Scarlett’s scent, warm skin, something soft and clean underneath, like rain on dry earth, he settled a little.
I wandered the floors longer than I needed to, letting my hands trail over soft fabrics and cool
