She looked divine. Powerful.
Untouchable.
Her eyes locked on mine, playful and glinting with something dangerous.
“Why the angry face, my love?” she teased.
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. My chest tightened beneath her gaze.
She walked with the confidence of a queen—no, a goddess. Wherever she went, heads turned, conversations halted. The worldnoticedher. Worshipped her.
And I hated it.
I wanted to be the one she craved. The one who madeherpause,herfall silent. But with every passing day, I felt her slipping from my grasp.
“I’m famished,” I said, quickening my pace to hurry her along. “Let’s find a place to eat.”
But hunger had nothing to do with it.
Inside, I was a storm of conflicting emotions—love, lust, jealousy—all tangled into a desperate desire to reclaim control. To remind her that she wasmine.
I didn’t want to share Alina. Not anymore.
I wanted exclusive rights. Her time. Her touch. Her loyalty.
But how could I assert that without pushing her away?
She wasn’t like the others—those forgettable bodies, those shallow encounters. She was an enigma—a flame I couldn’t hold without getting burned. And yet, I couldn’t stay away.
I feared that if I tried to possess her, I’d lose her. But if I didn’t, she might slip through my fingers forever.
The uncertainty made me feel weak.
And Idespisedweakness.
Especially in myself.
A sinister smile curled across my lips. My eyes narrowed as Imade a dark, final decision. If tenderness couldn’t bind her to me, then fear would. Power would. Blood.
She’d seen me kill before, but this time… this time, I’d make herwatch.Not from a distance. Not as a rumor or aftermath.
Up close.
She would see the monster I could be. And then she would understand.
Then, she wouldsubmit.
I turned to her. “I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” she repeated, pleased, her expression brightening.
She had no idea.
We stood in the town square, bathed in the coppery glow of the setting sun. The light caught in her hair and kissed her skin, and I was drawn to her like a needle to a lodestone.
I wanted the world to know.
That she was mine.
