Chapter six – Tangled Colors
700 Words
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Lily
The next morning came with no answers—just the memory of Xavier’s touch and the haunting promise he left behind. Lily barely slept. Her sheets were tangled, and her heart still hadn’t returned to its regular rhythm. She sat on the edge of her bed now, sunlight seeping through the curtains, her sketchpad balanced on her lap.
She drew him.
Xavier’s eyes, as dark as night and just as dangerous. His jawline. The way he held her wrist—not violently, but like he was tethering her to something she didn’t understand. Her pencil glided over the paper faster than her mind could process.
It terrified her.
And it thrilled her.
“Snap out of it, Lily,” she mumbled to herself. “You don’t even know him.”
But she did. Not logically. Not factually. But in some ancient, bone-deep way, she knew Xavier. She felt him under her skin like a pulse separate from her own.
Later, she sat in her favorite corner of the campus library, tucked between shelves of art history and mythology. The campus buzzed outside the stone walls, but she needed stillness. Safety. Routine. Anything to distract her from the man whose name echoed through her thoughts like a spell.
“Still hiding in the shelves, huh?”
Lily looked up to see her best friend, Mara, grinning with two iced coffees in hand.
“You didn’t show up for coffee this morning, so I figured I’d bring it to you,” Mara said, flopping down beside her.
Lily offered a weak smile. “Thanks. I just… had a weird night.”
“Weird how? Spill.”
Lily hesitated. Telling Mara about a man stalking her through the shadows and whispering cryptic things in alleys wouldn’t exactly earn her a calm response.
“Just… nightmares,” she lied.
Mara stared at her for a long second. “You sure that’s all?”
Before Lily could answer, her phone buzzed. Unknown number.
She opened it.
“Don’t fight it, Lily. I’m not your enemy.”
Her breath caught in her throat.
Mara noticed. “Hey. Who was that?”
Lily locked her screen. “Nobody.”
But that wasn’t true. He was definitely somebody.
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Xavier
Xavier stood at the edge of the Moretti estate, his eyes scanning the woods that bordered the property. The wind whispered like old secrets. His blood hummed. The moment he touched Lily, he knew it.
She was his.
Human or not, her soul matched his. That rare, nearly extinct thread that marked her as a Fated Mate. And the universe had the audacity to send her into his world when war brewed beneath the surface.
“She’s not ready,” came a familiar voice behind him.
Alessio.
“I know,” Xavier replied, jaw tightening. “But I couldn’t stay away.”
Alessio joined him, arms folded. “You crossed the line last night. The elders are watching you closely, especially now with tensions rising between packs. She’s a civilian. A target if the wrong people find out.”
“She’s mine,” Xavier said through gritted teeth. “I don’t care who I piss off.”
“Then prepare for war.”
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Lily
That night, she found herself wandering the empty gallery at campus—her escape, her therapy. Her paintings surrounded her. Vivid chaos. Controlled storms. She exhaled.
Then she felt it again.
The air shifted.
She turned slowly—and there he was.
Xavier.
He stood by one of her paintings. The one she didn’t even remember painting. A forest soaked in blood-red twilight. A pair of shadowed eyes hidden behind the trees.
“You painted me,” he said softly.
“I didn’t mean to.”
He took a step closer. “You feel me. That’s why.”
Lily’s defenses slammed up. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I couldn’t stay away,” he said, voice low and raw. “You don’t understand it yet. But you will.”
He reached for her hand, and again, that electric current passed between them. She tried to resist. Tried to speak. But when his fingers closed around hers, the world slipped away.
- Writer
