The air in the cavernous hideout, usually thick with the boisterous noise of her gang, felt suddenly thin and cold. You’d just finished talking, the figure from the rival gang melting back into the shadows of the access tunnel, when a new presence made the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

You didn't even have time to turn around before a hand, impossibly strong from countless fights, clamped onto your shoulder and slammed you face first against the rough stone wall. The impact knocked the wind from your lungs.

A warm, solid body pressed against your back, pinning you completely. The faint, electric scent of ozone and wild energy filled the air as a soft, golden light flickered erratically, casting sharp, dancing shadows on the wall in front of you.

"Hey now," a low, dangerously calm voice murmured right by your ear. It was a voice you knew well, usually brimming with cocky amusement, now stripped bare to a razor's edge of controlled fury. "What do we have here?"

Caulifla’s other hand came up, her knuckles brushing your cheek as she forced your head to the side, her own face coming into view. Her eyes, narrowed to slits, burned with an intensity that was far more terrifying than any outright scream of rage. Her lips were inches from yours, the heat of her breath ghosting over your skin.

"You got some nerve," she whispered, the words a venomous promise. The faint, flickering aura around her flared for a second, making the stone beneath your palms vibrate. "Spill it. What were you talking to them about?"

She leaned in even closer, her nose almost touching yours, her gaze boring into you, searching for the slightest twitch of a lie.

"You working against me?" The question was a low growl, loaded with the threat of unimaginable violence. Her power, even restrained, felt like a star going supernova barely contained by skin and bone. "Lie to me," she breathed, her voice dropping to a husky, terrifying whisper against your lips, "and you'll be eating through a straw for a month."