Chapter 14: might be strings attached
1335 Words
Glass still crunched beneath their feet.
Elowen stood breathless, shaken but steady as Malric vanished into the stairwell like smoke.
Kaelen hadn’t moved since the punch. His chest rose and fell like a tide trying to calm itself.
Then he turned to her.
“Why the hell did you let him touch you like that?” he barked.
The words hit her harder than the fight had.
Her brows snapped together. “Excuse me?”
“You let him put his hands all over you!” he snapped, voice rising. “On your back, your arm he was all over you, Elowen!”
“He was dancing with me,” she fired back. “And when he crossed a line, I told him to stop.”
“But you didn’t stop him soon enough!” Kaelen shouted. “You shouldn’t have let it get that far.”
Elowen recoiled, anger rising to meet his. “So now I’m the problem?”
“I’m the one who had to pull him off you!” he growled. “I saw the way he touched you and you were just standing there like ”
Iike I wasn’t afraid?” she snapped. “Because I wasn’t. I was handling it.”
Kaelen shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “You don’t understand what someone like him is capable of. He wasn’t flirting, Elowen he was hunting you.”
“I know that now.”
“Then why weren’t you paying attention?!”
Elowen stepped right up to him, voice shaking now but not from fear. “Don’t you dare blame me for what he did.”
Kaelen stared at her, jaw tight, breath shallow.
“You’re angry,” she said, softer. “But not just at him. You’re angry because I let someone else touch me. That’s what this is.”
“I’m angry,” Kaelen muttered, “because I nearly lost control watching him touch what wasn’t his.”
Silence.
Then Elowen whispered: “And what am I, Kaelen? Yours?”
He flinched. Words failed him.
She took a step back.
“Don’t ever talk to me like that again,” she said. “Don’t ever look at me like I’m something you own. I am not your territory. I’m not your job. And if you ever raise your voice at me over a man’s behavior again instead of blaming the one who crossed the line…”
Her blood rune flared, and the air between them tightened like a pulled string.
“…you’ll see what I do when someone really threatens me.”
She turned, walked away and didn’t look back.
Kaelen stood alone in the echo of his anger, the weight of his words already burning into regret.
Ciara stood near the drink table, arms crossed as she scanned the floor, her expression tight with concern. Belle joined her quietly, eyes flicking toward the stairwell Elowen had disappeared down.
“She okay?” Ciara asked.
Belle shook her head. “No. But she’s strong. She’ll work through it.”
Ciara grunted. “Kaelen’s lucky she didn’t deck him.”
Belle gave a dry smile, but it faded quickly. She hesitated, then said, “Hey… I think I’m gonna go.”
Ciara raised an eyebrow. “Go? We just saved Elowen from dancing with Dracula Junior. Don’t you think we should stick close?”
Belle glanced toward the building’s upper floor windows, where soft candlelight flickered behind tinted glass. “Bianca never made it down. Pack business kept her upstairs. I told her I’d swing by after the chaos died down.”
Ciara’s look softened. “Want me to come with?”
Belle smiled. “Nah. You’re better here. Keep an eye on El.”
Ciara gave a half-salute. “Go do your mate duties. Tell Bianca she owes me a drink.”
“I will,” Belle said, already turning toward the stairs. “Don’t let Kaelen punch anyone else while I’m gone.”
“No promises.”
As Belle disappeared into the stairwell, Ciara sighed, grabbing two glasses and sipping from both. “I hate parties.”
She paused.
Then muttered, “Especially when vampires crash ‘em.”
Bella
Belle slipped away from the rooftop party and made her way down two floors to the lower apartment level. She reached the door of Apartment 3C Bianca’s place in and gave two light knocks and a soft scratch: their signal.
The door opened almost immediately.
Bianca stood there, barefoot, her curls pulled into a loose ponytail, tension written across her posture. She was still in her pack-issued tactical shirt, sleeves rolled up, collar slightly askew.
“You finally made it,” Bianca said, her voice warm despite the fatigue.
Belle stepped in without hesitation and pulled her into a hug. “I had to wrangle a vampire creep off a girl first. Happy birthday, by the way.”
Bianca exhaled a slow laugh, holding her close. “Thanks. Sorry I missed my own party. Alpha business.”
“I figured. Your dad?” Belle asked.
Bianca nodded toward the desk cluttered with maps and comms units. “Border reports. Patrol shifts. And a lecture about ‘duty over celebration.’ You know, the usual.”
Belle groaned. “So he chained you to paperwork while people are literally dancing in your apartment?”
“Technically, the rooftop’s part of Agency housing,” Bianca muttered. “But yes.”
Belle walked over and plopped onto Bianca’s couch. “You haven’t even met the new girl. Elowen.”
Bianca raised a brow as she kicked the door shut and joined her. “Elowen?”
“She’s… complicated. Powerful. The prophecy one, apparently. Kaelen’s assigned to train her.”
“Hm. Sounds like trouble.”
Belle smirked. “You have no idea.”
Bianca sank into the couch and rested her head on Belle’s shoulder. “Tell me all the gossip I missed.”
Belle smiled, wrapping an arm around her. “Only if you agree to finally open your presents after.”
Bianca closed her eyes. “Deal.”
Ciara had just downed one of the two drinks in her hand when Kaelen approached her from behind.
She didn’t turn.
“You know,” she said flatly, “for a guy who claims to be in control, you really know how to make a mess.”
“I didn’t come for a lecture.”
Ciara finally looked over her shoulder, gaze unimpressed. “Too bad. You’re getting one.”
Kaelen exhaled hard through his nose. His knuckles were still sore from the punch, and his insides felt worse.
“I need you to check on Elowen,” he said.
Ciara raised an eyebrow. “You think she wants to see another agent right now?”
“She doesn’t have to talk,” he muttered. “Just… make sure she’s okay.”
Ciara turned fully toward him, folding her arms. “You could’ve done that without lashing out like some jealous vampire boyfriend.”
“I wasn’t—”
“You were,” she cut in. “And you scared her.”
Kaelen flinched. The truth landed with a bitter sting.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said quietly.
Ciara studied him for a long moment. “You care about her.”
He didn’t respond.
“You just don’t know what to do with that.”
Still no answer.
Ciara sighed, rolling her eyes. “Fine. I’ll go. But only because someone has to clean up after you.”
Kaelen nodded once. “Thank you.”
She started toward the stairs, then paused. “And Kaelen?”
He looked up.
“Next time you see her… don’t try to protect her by making her feel small. She’s not a mission. She’s a person.”
With that, she vanished down the stairwell, leaving Kaelen standing among partygoers who were already pretending the night was back to normal.
But he knew better.
Nothing about this was normal anymore.
- Writer
