Seraphina's Point Of View
The door clicked shut behind me.
Not slammed. Not softly closed either.
Just… shut.
And the moment it did, my spine gave out.
I leaned back against it, palms flat against the wood, breath coming faster than I wanted to admit. My chest rose and fell like I'd just outrun something feral, something with teeth and claws and golden eyes that knew exactly where to bite.
Air.
I needed air.
My lungs dragged it in like they'd forgotten how breathing worked.
"That was a close one," I muttered, voice barely above a whisper.
The hallway light was still on. Warm. Safe. Ordinary. So painfully normal it almost offended me. Nothing about tonight had been normal. Nothing about them ever was.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tipped my head back against the door. The wood was cool. Grounding. Real. Unlike the way everything around those men felt… like gravity bent around them and logic packed its bags and left the building.
