Chapter 9
884 Words
Selene’s POV
The sirens grew louder, slicing through the storm like a warning meant for us alone.
Cassius didn’t hesitate. He grabbed my jacket, hauling me to my feet as if the ground itself was dangerous. My shoulder screamed in protest, a sharp reminder that I’d almost died tonight.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
“Yes,” I lied.
He didn’t argue. He wrapped an arm around my back anyway, solid and unyielding, and steered me out into the rain. Water soaked us instantly, cold and relentless, washing blood from the cracked concrete behind us.
The bike roared to life beneath his hands. He shoved a helmet at me. “On. Now.”
I climbed on, fingers clumsy, vision blurring as adrenaline drained from my veins. When I wrapped my arms around his waist, he stilled for half a second, then pulled me closer himself, like he needed the contact as much as I did.
We tore off into the desert, the service station shrinking behind us until it disappeared entirely.
Only then did my body start to shake.
Not from the cold.
From the man’s voice still echoing in my head.
You’ll remember. Everything.
Cassius didn’t slow until we were miles away, the road empty and slick with rain. He pulled under an overpass, killed the engine, and turned toward me.
“Let me see your shoulder.”
“I’m fine,” I said automatically.
“Selene.”
That tone. No room for defiance. I nodded and shrugged out of my jacket with a hiss. Blood had soaked through the fabric, dark and sticky.
Cassius swore under his breath.
He crouched in front of me, movements careful now, reverent almost. He peeled the torn fabric away, inspecting the wound with eyes that missed nothing.
“It’s a graze,” he said. “Painful, but not fatal.”
My laugh came out shaky. “That seems to be the theme tonight.”
His jaw tightened. He pulled a clean cloth from his saddlebag and pressed it gently onto my shoulder.
I flinched anyway.
“Sorry,” he murmured. Then, quieter, “I should’ve ended it sooner.”
“No,” I said quickly. “You saved me.”
His eyes snapped up to mine.
“I didn’t mean to make you bait,” he said. “Or a target. Or…”
“I know,” I cut in. “But I need the truth now. No more pieces.”
The rain drummed overhead, steady and heavy.
He held my gaze for a long moment, like he was weighing something dangerous.
“That man,” he said finally. “His name is Elias Kane.”
The name settled into my chest like a stone.
“He worked with your father,” Cassius continued. “Before Darius. Before the club wars. He was the one who made people disappear without bodies.”
My stomach churned. “And now he wants me.”
“He wants what your father hid,” Cassius said. “And he thinks you’re the key.”
“I don’t remember anything,” I whispered.
“Not yet.”
That word chilled me.
Cassius tied the cloth securely, his fingers brushing my skin with careful precision. “Sometimes memories don’t disappear,” he said. “They get buried. Triggered by stress. Fear. Trauma.”
“Or being shot at,” I muttered.
His mouth twitched, but the tension didn’t leave his eyes.
“You’re not going back to the clubhouse,” he said.
I looked up. “Then where?”
“Somewhere no one knows,” he replied. “Not Darius. Not Luca. Not Kane.”
“And you?” I asked. “Are you coming?”
The question hung between us, heavier than it should’ve been.
Cassius stood slowly. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Relief hit me so hard my knees almost buckled.
“What if I remember?” I asked quietly. “What if I really do have it…whatever my father hid?”
Cassius stepped closer, close enough that the rain couldn’t touch me anymore. He lifted my chin with two fingers, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“Then we face it,” he said. “Together.”
Something in his voice made my chest ache.
“And if it destroys everything?” I whispered.
His thumb brushed my jaw, just once. “Then I’ll burn what’s left before I let it destroy you.”
The words should’ve terrified me.
Instead, they felt like a vow.
Headlights appeared in the distance. Cassius stiffened instantly, instincts snapping back into place.
“We move,” he said.
I nodded, pulling my jacket back on despite the pain.
As we climbed onto the bike again, something strange happened.
A flicker.
A flash of my father’s voice, low and urgent.
If anything happens to me, remember this, Selene…
My breath caught.
“Cassius,” I said, heart racing.
He glanced back. “What?”
“I think…” I swallowed hard. “I think something’s trying to come back.”
His grip tightened on the handlebars.
“Then hold on,” he said. “Because once it does, nothing stays buried.”
The engine roared to life.
And somewhere deep inside me, a locked door creaked open.
- Writer
