The memory of his skin, of his voice in the dark —You’re mine— still curled around my bones like smoke. So when I felt something shift behind me, I didn’t flinch.
I turned.
I came face to face with a wall of fury.
Taeyang.
He was taller up close, broader than I'd realized — like a statue carved from rage. His black eyes were rimmed with red, and his mouth curled in something too wild to be a smile.
Before I could speak, his hand slammed into the brick wall beside my head — not touching me. But close enough to make the air hiss between us.
“You,” he growled, “are going to get him killed.”
My hand went for my dagger. He didn’t move.
“I should kill you now,” he said, low and dangerous. “End this bond before it ruins him.”
“I didn’t choose it,” I snapped.
“No,” he snarled, “but you’ll be the end of him all the same.”
He moved so fast I barely had time to blink. Fingers gripped my throat — not hard enough to cut off air, but enough to make my pulse spike with fury.
“I’ve watched him rot for centuries. Wait for a mark that never lit. You think because it burned for you, you’re something special?”
I struggled against his grip. My blade was at his side in an instant, pressing into his ribs.
“I don’t care what you’ve seen,” I hissed. “Touch me again and I’ll show you what I was trained to do to your kind.”
His grin widened.
“You’ve got fire, hunter. But fire burns everything it touches.”
“Let her go.”
His voice cracked like thunder across the alleyway. Taeyang stiffened.
Rheon stepped out of the shadows, eyes glowing faintly, coat billowing around him like a storm incarnate.
“Now,” he said again.
Taeyang’s grip loosened.
“She’s going to destroy you,” he muttered. “And you’re going to let her.”
“I’d rather be ruined by her,” Rheon said coldly, “than live another century without her.”
Taeyang stepped back, but his eyes never left mine.
“If you break him,” he said, voice low, “I’ll tear your heart out myself.”
Then he vanished into the dark, fury trailing behind him like smoke. I turned to Rheon.
“Is that what I’m going to do?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. But his hand found mine.
And that was all I needed.
