Chapter 4
1132 Words
I felt it before I saw them.
The shift in the air wasn’t subtle this time. It pressed in sharp and immediate, cutting straight through the tension between us. My focus snapped past her shoulder, instincts kicking in without hesitation.
We weren’t alone anymore.
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
I didn’t answer right away. I was already scanning, already calculating. Three of them, maybe four. Moving too deliberately for it to be coincidence. Not loud. Not careless.
Looking.
For her.
My grip on her tightened.
She noticed immediately. Of course she did.
“What is it?” she asked, quieter now, her body going still in a way that told me everything I needed to know.
She felt it too.
Good.
“Don’t move,” I said.
Her eyes flashed. “I’m not taking orders from you.”
“Then don’t,” I replied, my tone even. “But if you walk away right now, you’re going to walk straight into them.”
That got her attention.
Her expression shifted, the defiance still there but edged now with something sharper. Awareness. Calculation.
“Who?” she asked.
I didn’t look back at her.
“They’ve been watching you longer than I have.”
A beat.
Then, “That’s not possible.”
“It is,” I said.
I felt the bond react again, tightening as her pulse picked up. Fear, this time. Not of me.
Of them.
Her eyes flicked past me, subtle, careful, like she was trying to spot them without making it obvious. I stepped slightly closer without thinking, blocking her line of sight just enough.
“Don’t,” I murmured.
“I need to see.”
“You need to listen.”
Her jaw tightened. “You don’t get to just say things like that and expect me to trust you.”
“I don’t need you to trust me,” I said. “I need you to stay where you are.”
Her gaze snapped back to mine. “Why?”
Because they’re not here for me.
Because they’re here for you.
I didn’t say it like that.
Not yet.
“Because if they confirm it,” I said instead, my voice lowering, “you’re not walking away at all.”
Her breath caught.
“Confirm what?” she asked.
I held her gaze.
“This.”
The word landed between us again, heavier this time.
She shook her head immediately. “No. No, that doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
“Then explain it,” she pressed.
Footsteps.
Closer now.
Not rushed. Controlled.
They thought they had time.
They thought they weren’t being watched.
They were wrong.
My attention shifted again, my focus narrowing as I caught movement at the edge of the street. One of them stepped into better light for half a second, just long enough for me to register the way he scanned the area.
Trained.
Disciplined.
Not random.
My grip tightened again.
“They’re here for you,” I said.
Her reaction was immediate.
“No.”
“You felt this before I touched you,” I continued, watching her closely. “Before you saw me.”
Her silence told me everything.
“That wasn’t me,” I added. “That was them getting close enough to track you.”
Her breathing picked up, her control slipping just slightly. “That’s not possible.”
“You’ve said that twice now.”
“Because it’s not,” she snapped, but it didn’t land the same way. There was doubt there now. Fear creeping in whether she wanted it to or not.
I leaned in just enough to keep my voice low, contained.
“They’re not guessing,” I said. “They know what they’re looking for.”
Her eyes searched mine, fast, sharp, trying to read something I wasn’t saying out loud.
“Then why are they not coming straight to me?” she asked.
“Because they’re waiting.”
“For what?”
“For confirmation.”
The bond pulsed again, strong enough this time that her hand twitched at her side like she almost reached for me without thinking.
She caught it.
Pulled it back.
But I saw it.
“Then we leave,” she said quickly. “Now.”
I almost shook my head.
“They’re covering the exits.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Her frustration spiked again. “Then what, we just stand here?”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then what?”
I stepped closer again, not giving her space to argue it this time. The bond reacted instantly, tightening, sharpening, pulling both of us into the same space whether we liked it or not.
“We make them think you’re not what they’re looking for,” I said.
She blinked. “How?”
I didn’t answer right away.
Instead, I watched her.
Took in the tension in her shoulders, the way she held herself like she was always ready to run, the way her instincts were fighting with her logic right now.
She wasn’t weak.
She wasn’t naive.
But she was exposed.
And they knew it.
“Stay close to me,” I said.
Her expression hardened immediately. “That’s not happening.”
“It already is.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It is right now.”
“No, it’s not,” she said, pushing lightly against my chest again, more out of habit than expectation. “You don’t get to just use this to your advantage.”
I leaned in slightly, close enough that her breath hitched again, close enough that the bond flared sharp and undeniable between us.
“This isn’t for me,” I said quietly. “This is so they don’t take you.”
That stopped her.
For a second.
Just long enough.
Her eyes flicked past me again, more carefully this time. I saw the moment she noticed them. The way her body went still, the way her breathing changed just slightly.
There.
Now she believed me.
“They’re getting closer,” she said under her breath.
“I know.”
Her voice dropped even lower. “If they touch me, what happens?”
The question hit harder than I expected.
My jaw tightened.
“They won’t.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
Her eyes snapped back to mine. “You don’t get to just decide that.”
I held her gaze, steady, certain.
“I already did.”
The words settled between us, heavier than before.
More real.
More dangerous.
Her breath hitched again, but this time she didn’t argue.
Didn’t pull away.
Didn’t try to run.
Good.
Because there wasn’t anywhere left to go.
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