**************
CHAPTER 135
~Jade's POV~
She swallowed once, then gently released Isadora's arm and stepped forward on her own, closing the distance by three deliberate steps.
Xade's aura surged immediately. "Not another step forward."
Ziva stopped. She looked at him with a calm that was not the absence of fear so much as the decision to set it aside, and gave a single quiet nod. "Understood."
Then she began.
"I felt something earlier, before the games," she began. "I am a Star Elf, and we distinguish between scents in ways that most wolves cannot."
I saw Xavier's eyes twitch a little.
"When I saw Isadora joining the crowd near the games this morning, I intended to approach her, but something stopped me. There was a cold coming off her that had nothing to do with her natural scent. Something dark underneath the surface that did not belong to the girl I knew."
"Someone else," I said quietly.
