"Thisisher home!"
Silence. Four sets of eyes watching me with varying degrees of satisfaction. Like they've been waiting for me to crack.
"Attachment," Nyx purrs. "How... predictable."
The hunger roars to life, making my fangs extend fully. Making every careful mask I wear crack at the edges.
"After that, Phil has lethal authority if she resists."
The Council's magic tears me away from the chamber, depositing me back in the sanctuary garden like discarded refuse. Everything feels different now. Sharper. More urgent.
She's still here. Safe—for now. But for how long?
The hunger claws at me, made worse by the Council's casual dismissal of what I feel for her.Susceptible.Like centuries of survival mean nothing against Source influence.
Maybe they're right. Maybe that's all this is.
But it doesn't feel like compulsion when I think about her trusting Seth. When I remember the way she said goodnight to him, easy and unguarded.
It feels like something far more dangerous.
Every instinct I have is screaming. The need to make sure she's safe. To eliminate every threat before they can touch her.
But underneath it all, a more terrifying realization crystallizes.
I can't go back to strangers and shadows. To surviving on casual violence and detached hunger. That version of me died the moment she looked at me like I mattered.
Whatever she's done to me—whatever I've become because of her—there's no undoing it.
Chapter 45
Bree
The mirror feels cold in my hands as I turn it over, watching moonlight catch the surface and disappear. Not reflect—disappear. Like the light falls into it and never comes back out.
Seth's footsteps faded into the shadows, but I'm still sitting here. Still thinking about Theo crashing through those doors like something was chasing him. The raw panic in his voice when he yelled at Seth.
Get away from her.
Like Seth was a threat. Like I was in danger.
But Seth had looked as confused as I felt. Just a man showing concern when someone started yelling. Concern for me like I mattered.
So why does my chest feel tight when I think about it?
I trace the mirror's twisted frame with my thumb. The way my reflection wavered in it earlier, the way my eyes glowed red then went completely black... it should terrify me.
Instead, it just feels important. Like something I was meant to find.
I'm not scared of it,I tell myself.But maybe I should be.
I feel him before I hear him, like a shiver down my spine I'm not sure if I'm ready for or not.
"You're always watching," I say to the darkness behind me.
His voice comes low and controlled: "You shouldn't have been out here alone."
"You weren't here to stop me."
