Someone familiar.
Someone who still haunted my nightmares.
It felt as if the ground shifted beneath me. My breath hitched, and my heart started pounding in my chest as I struggled toprocess the sight of him. He shouldn’t be here. He couldn’t be here. And yet, there he was, standing casually among the crowd, like he belonged.
The memories came flooding back, raw and vicious, pulling me into that dark place again. My entire body froze as a primal fight-or-flight-or freeze instinct surged through me, making my muscles tense and my blood run cold.
How the hell was he here? Every nerve in my body screamed at me to run, to get away, but I couldn’t move. My legs felt like lead, my lungs like they were shrinking.
I stood rooted to the spot, the room fading into a blur around me, as if the world itself was spinning too fast. The past and present merged right then and there, and all I could think of was the last time I had seen him, how I’d escaped with my life by the thinnest margin.
And of the people who hadn’t.
"You okay?"
Caden’s question cut through the fog of fear clouding my mind, snapping me back to the present. I hadn’t even noticed him approach until he was right beside me, his presence grounding me, pulling me away from the brink of panic.
Without thinking, I grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the dance floor. Shock flashed across his face as he stumbled slightly.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" he hissed.
I leaned in closer, my lips brushing against the shell of his ear. "Do you see that man in the corner, the one in the brown vest?"
Caden’s demeanor changed at once. He narrowed his eyes as he turned me, fluid and sure, adjusting our movements so the man slipped into his peripheral view. His grip on my waist tightened.
“What about him?” he asked, voice low—quiet enough to disappear beneath the music—laced with dark suspicion.
"He was at the Spring Palace with the Radicals," I murmured, the words almost sticking in my throat. "When they attacked Cyclos with the Amplifier."
I felt the tautness ripple through Caden’s body. His muscles stiffened beneath my touch as the gravity of my words sank in.
"Are you sure?" he growled.
"Positive," I whispered back, my heart still pounding against my ribs like it was trying to escape. The memory of that horrific day at the Spring Palace clawed at the edges of my mind, vivid and sharp—but I forced it down, locking it away. I had no time for fear. Not now. I drew a steadying breath. "He’s a Radical."
"We need to isolate him and interrogate him." Caden’s commanding voice carried a low, deadly rumble.
"He won’t recognize me," I said firmly. I caught the flicker of doubt crossing his face, and added quickly, "I saw him from a distance—he never saw me. If you wait right outside the door, I’ll lead him straight to you."
Caden's gaze flicked to mine, a silent understanding passing between us. He gave me a curt nod, his decision made in an instant.
Without another word, he let go of my arm and disappeared into the shadows as I made my way toward the Radical.
CADEN
I’d never been a stranger to female beauty—hell, I’d spent years chasing it, tasting it, losing myself in it. I liked women. Loved the way they moved, the way they sounded when I hit just the rightspot. Figuring out what made them melt, what made them beg, had become second nature to me. A craft I’d honed with time, skill, and a whole lot of willing partners. But it had been a long time since a woman’s raw sexuality had knocked me off my feet.
That was before Emma walked through the doors in that fucking dress.
Had I noticed she was attractive before? Sure. I clocked it the second we met back at Coastal. But it wasn’t until that night I saw her—really saw her. And then, she went anddancedwith fucking Petru.
The jealousy came out of nowhere—irrational, feral, and fast. It hit like a punch to the chest, hot and territorial, burning through logic before I could stop it. For a split second, I wanted to rip him away from her, stake a claim I had no right to make. I barely managed to shove it down, to wrestle it into submission and stretch the smooth, practiced grin across my face like it hadn't just cracked.
Yeah, female beauty had always been a constant in my life, an everyday reality, but it had never been my downfall. When Emma walked in that night, for the first time ever, I felt like it could be.
I forced my attention back to the conversation, nodding along like I gave a damn, but my ears were tuned to her voice—soft, laughing, speaking tohim.
Until he started leading her toward a shadowed corner of the room, and that was it. I closed the distance in two seconds flat, not even thinking—only moving.
