Chapter 16_What the Shadows saw
435 Words
Lucien moved fast — too fast for her human eyes to follow.
One moment he was pressed against her, wild and wanting, the next… he was nothing but smoke and fury rushing toward the scream.
> “Stay here,” he ordered, voice cold again, sharp like broken glass.
But Evi didn’t listen.
She ran after him, heart thundering. Her skin still tingled where his lips had touched her. The mark — whatever bond they had begun — burned like a living ember in her veins.
She followed the echo of his movements through the cathedral halls until she found him.
And then she wished she hadn’t.
Lucien stood over a man’s crumpled body. Blood stained the floor. The man — mid-thirties, leather coat, silver blade dropped beside him — groaned, barely alive.
> “He was following you,” Lucien said, his back to her. “A hunter.”
> “Is he… is he dead?”
> “Not yet. But he will be if he touches you again.”
> “Lucien—”
He turned, eyes glowing a violent red. Not the deep wine of seduction. This was rage. Hunger. Unmasked power.
> “They know about you now,” he said. “They’ll come for you. To use you. To destroy you. You’ve become my weakness, Evi.”
She flinched.
> “Then break the bond,” she whispered.
Silence. Then:
> “I can’t.”
She stepped closer.
> “You mean you won’t.”
Lucien’s jaw clenched. He looked like he was fighting himself, like his body was torn between two instincts — to flee and to claim.
> “If they find out what we’ve done… if they know the bond is incomplete but active, they’ll use it against me. Against you.”
Evi reached for his hand. He pulled away.
> “Don’t you see?” he said, eyes softening, just for a second. “I’d rather burn this city down than let them lay a finger on you.”
Just then, the hunter groaned again.
Evi looked at him, then at Lucien.
> “Let him go,” she said. “We’re not monsters.”
Lucien stared at her for a long time.
Then he reached down, picked up the blade, and sliced the hunter’s coat — revealing a hidden tracker sewn inside.
He crushed it.
> “He’ll live,” Lucien muttered. “But his message has already been sent.”
He walked away without another word.
And Evi realized something chilling:
> The shadows weren’t just watching them.
They were closing in.
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- Writer
