“I know he definitely missed you, though,” Travis adds quietly, not looking at me when he says it.
My chest tightens.
Seth stays near the doorway for a beat, watching me, then shifts his focus.
“Travis,” he says. “Take the pets and give us the room.”
Travis nods, pushing to his feet. He gives Krueger a scratch before guiding both animals towards the door.
“I’ll let you know if I find anything else.”
Luna pauses at the doorway and looks back at me. Krueger hesitates longer, then follows when Travis calls him again.
The door closes behind them.
Seth steps forward.
His eyes move over me, taking in the way I'm standing, the tension in my shoulders, the way my left hand flexes around nothing.
“You ready to hit harder?” he asks.
I exhale slowly. “Yes.”
“You know why I’m good at this,” he steps closer. “It’s not talent. It’s not training. My body’s been in fight mode since I was a kid.”
He doesn’t look away.
“I didn’t get to run. I didn’t get to freeze. It was hit or get hit. Win or get chained to a wall. That switch flipped and it never flipped back.”
He taps two fingers lightly against my sternum.
“You,” he adds, “your body went the other direction.”
I stiffen.
“Since you were twelve,” he continues. “You learned how to leave before things got bad. You got good at reading rooms, hiding, running, figuring out who to trust.”
I swallow.
“And with this,” he says plainly. “You got good at escaping, physically, mentally. You survived by staying one step away from impact.”
He steps back and picks up the training knife from the mat. He tosses it to me without warning.
I catch it with my left hand.
“But you don’t get to run anymore,” he tilts his head. “They’re not gonna stop hunting you.”
The word lands heavier than if he had said us.
“They’re not going to get bored. You can’t outrun people like that. You have to kill them.”
He moves in without ceremony, his hand striking toward my shoulder.
I block late.
He grabs my wrist, twists slightly, and forces me to adjust my footing.
“You stepped back before I even touched you.” His grip tightens for a second. “That’s flight.”
