THREAD OF DESIRE

Chapter 14 – Dangerous Alignments

POV: Nareth Sol

The night air was cold against Nareth’s skin as he walked toward the café where Daelen had asked to meet. He didn’t trust the timing. Not when Lucian had been acting like a ghost wearing his own skin.

He spotted Daelen immediately, sprawled in a corner booth, leather jacket draped over one shoulder like he owned the place. His smirk was sharp enough to cut glass.

“Took you long enough,” Daelen drawled, sliding his phone aside. “Sit.”

Nareth did, though unease gnawed at him. “What’s this about?”

Daelen leaned forward, elbows on the table. His eyes glittered with something dangerous. “I’m making a move.”

“On who?”

A pause. Then, deliberate: “Irian Thal.”

Nareth stiffened. “You’re joking.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Daelen’s smirk widened. “He thinks he can steal from me? I’ll show him what happens when you touch what’s mine. I’ll take him apart piece by piece until he knows who really holds the leash.”

Nareth’s jaw clenched. He wanted to call it what it was—cruelty. But Daelen was their friend, and their circle was already fracturing. He couldn’t afford another break. Not now.

“Be careful,” Nareth said finally, his voice low. “You’re playing with fire.”

Daelen leaned back, satisfied. “I’ve always liked the burn.”

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POV: Irian Thal

Irian sat at his desk, fingers tracing absent shapes in the margins of his notebook. The silence of his apartment pressed heavy around him, though part of him welcomed it. Silence was honest. Unlike people.

His phone buzzed. A message.

From Daelen.

> You busy tonight? Let’s talk.

Irian stared at it for a long moment, the glow of the screen reflected in his dark eyes. He hadn’t replied before, thinking silence would be enough. But Daelen Pryce wasn’t the type to accept silence.

A memory tugged at him—the Alpha’s intense stare across the classroom, that heat in his voice when he’d said you owe me. Irian had brushed it off then, but a chill ran down his spine now.

He set the phone down face-down on the desk, shutting the light out.

But the thought lingered, a thread wound too tight to ignore. If Daelen wanted something, he wouldn’t stop. And deep down, Irian wasn’t sure if he was afraid of that persistence… or of the part of him that wondered what it would feel like to give in.

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POV: Lucian Mareis

Back at the dorm, Lucian sat on his bed, knees drawn to his chest. He could still feel Nareth’s hand around his wrist, that quiet plea in his voice: Don’t shut me out.

He wanted to tell him everything. That the soul inside this body wasn’t the Lucian Mareis Nareth had grown up with. That he’d died, slipped into darkness, and woken up wearing his friend’s skin.

But how could he? How do you confess to the impossible without losing the last person who tethered you to this world?

His phone buzzed. A group chat notification. Daelen and Nareth both had sent messages. Something about a “plan.”

Lucian stared at the screen, dread curling in his stomach. Whatever Daelen was planning, it would only pull them deeper into a spiral none of them could escape.

And Lucian already knew—if the truth about him ever surfaced, it would shatter them all.

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