The first Attack
1103 Words
### *EPISODE 3:
_∼5000 words. Mature. Dreame-safe. Full prose._
The Blackwood Estate had 47 cameras. 12 guards. 3 wolves on patrol.
It still wasn’t enough.
*Day 3. 4:22 AM.*
I woke up choking.
Not on air. On the bond.
It felt like barbed wire wrapped around my ribs, pulling me out of bed.
Down the hall, a door slammed.
Kael’s voice. Low. Furious. "Who was on east wing?"
Footsteps. Running.
I didn’t think. I ran too.
The hallway was empty. Cold.
But my bond was screaming. _Danger. Mate. Danger._
Kael stood at the end of the hall in black sweatpants and nothing else. Chest heaving. Blood on his knuckles.
Not his blood.
"What happened?" I asked.
His gold eyes snapped to me. "Get back in your room. Now."
Too late.
The window at the end of the hall shattered.
Glass everywhere.
And through it, a man. Human. Masked. Gun in one hand. Syringe in the other.
"Found her," the man said. Smiled at me. "Hi, Luna."
Everything happened fast.
Kael moved. 6'3 of Alpha moved faster than I could track.
He tackled the man through the broken window before the gun fired.
They hit the ground 3 stories down.
"KAEL!" I screamed.
A second man dropped from the roof onto the balcony.
For me.
The bracelets on my wrists burned. Hot.
The black stone cracked.
The man reached for me.
I swung. Missed.
He grabbed my arm.
And then Kael was there again. Bleeding from his temple. Furious.
He ripped the man off me and threw him over the balcony rail.
Silence.
Only rain.
Kael turned to me. Hands shaking. Not from fear. From holding back.
"Are you hurt?" His voice broke.
I shook my head. Couldn’t speak.
He pulled me into him. Hard. One arm around my back, the other cupping my head.
"I told you to stay in your room," he growled into my hair. But he was shaking.
"I felt you," I whispered. "The bond."
"I know." He pulled back, scanning me. "You’re bleeding."
I looked down. A cut on my arm. Shallow.
From the glass. Or him.
Kael swore. Picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me to his room.
His bed. My blood on his sheets.
"Don’t," I said weakly.
"Shut up." He grabbed the first aid kit. His hands were steady now. "This is my fault."
"How?"
"Because I thought 12 guards would be enough." He cleaned the cut. His touch was careful. Too careful. "I forgot what desperate people will do for a rejected Luna."
He bandaged me. Then he did something worse.
He pressed his forehead to mine.
"The bond is almost awake," he murmured. "Can you feel it?"
Yes. God, yes. It was screaming to touch him. To claim him. To never let go.
"Kael—"
"Don’t." He pulled back. CEO mask back on. "We have a contract."
But his eyes said different.
---
*7:00 AM. SECURITY ROOM.*
The screens showed everything.
Two men. Professional. Ex-military. Paid $50,000 each.
And a third person. Inside the house.
They had a keycard. They knew the camera blind spots.
Mrs. Hale paused the footage. "Here, sir."
A figure in a staff uniform. Face covered.
Slipping a note under the attacker’s shoe at 2am.
Kael went completely still. "Who is that?"
"Unknown, sir. Uniform is generic."
Kael looked at me. "Someone in my house sold you out."
My stomach dropped. "Who would—"
"I don’t know yet." He stood. "But I will."
He turned to the head of security. "Lockdown. No one in or out. Search every room. Every staff member. Now."
Then to me: "You’re not leaving my sight."
---
*10:30 AM. HIS OFFICE.*
I sat across from him while he made calls. Threats. In Russian. In Italian.
When he hung up, the room was quiet.
"Your mother’s surgery is still on for Friday," he said. "I moved her to a private facility. My doctors. My guards."
"Thank you," I whispered.
"Don’t." He rubbed his jaw. "I should’ve protected you better."
"You did."
"Bullshit." He slammed his hand on the desk. "He touched you."
The room got cold.
Kael stood and came around the desk. Crouching in front of me again.
"Look at me."
I did.
"If anyone touches you again, I will kill them. Slowly." His voice was soft. Deadly. "Contract or not. Rules or not."
"Kael—"
"The bond wants me to claim you," he said. "To mark you. So no one else can. So I know you’re safe."
My breath caught. "We can’t."
"We can’t," he agreed. "But god, Arielle. I want to."
He stood abruptly. "Work. Now. Distract me."
---
We didn’t work.
Not really.
At 2pm, alarms went off.
"Perimeter breach, East gate!"
Kael grabbed my hand. "With me."
We ran. Guards everywhere.
In the garden, security had a man on the ground. The same uniform from the footage.
Kael crouched in front of him. "Who hired you?"
The man smiled. Blood on his teeth. "A friend."
Kael hit him. Once. Twice.
"Name."
"Can’t tell you, Alpha." The man coughed. "She’s worth too much. Dead or alive."
He bit down.
Foam at the mouth. Dead in 10 seconds.
Kael stared at the body. Then at me.
"This ends tonight," he said. "One way or another."
---
*11:47 PM. HIS BEDROOM.*
He didn’t send me back to my room.
He didn’t trust the house.
"You sleep here," he said. Pointed to the couch. "I sleep here." Pointed to the bed. "10 feet apart. That’s the rule."
I nodded.
At 1:03am, the bond flared. Painful.
I whimpered in my sleep.
A warm hand on my shoulder.
"Arielle. Wake up."
Kael. Kneeling by the couch.
"You were dreaming," he said. "You were saying my name."
I sat up. We were too close.
"The bond," I whispered. "It hurts."
"I know." His thumb brushed my cheek. Once. "Me too."
Neither of us moved.
His eyes dropped to my lips. Mine to his.
10 feet.
2 feet.
1 inch.
His phone buzzed. Loud.
He jerked back like I’d slapped him.
He read the text. His face went blank.
"What?" I asked.
Kael stood. "They have a photo of your mom. In her hospital room. Taken an hour ago."
The world tilted.
"Pack your bag," Kael said. "We’re leaving. Now."
"Where?"
"Somewhere they can’t find us." He grabbed his jacket. Gun in a holster. "And Arielle?"
"Yeah?"
"If the bond wakes up fully before we get there... I’m not fighting it."
He walked out.
Leaving me with shaking hands and a choice to make.
12 months.
Or forever.
---
*END OF EPISODE 3
- Writer
