"He's Not Warning Us Anymore".
846 Words
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CHAPTER 8 – He’s Not Warning Us Anymore
Amara’s POV
The silence after the blast was deafening.
Shards of glass sparkled like frozen stars across the marble floor, and the wind howled through the gaping hole in the office window. I couldn’t breathe—not because of fear, but because of the way Zephyr’s arms tightened around me.
His voice was low, lethal. “He’s not warning us anymore.”
“Who?” I whispered, my voice shaking. My fingers clung to the fabric of his shirt like it was the only solid thing left in the world.
Zephyr didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gently pushed me behind him, his body tensing like a predator’s.
“Stay there. Don’t move.”
I didn’t argue. I’d never seen him like this—so raw, so fierce. His calm demeanor was stripped away, replaced by something colder. Deadlier.
Security rushed in seconds later, weapons drawn and faces grim. Zephyr’s jaw tightened as he addressed them. “Sweep the perimeter. Check the cameras. And get the private elevator locked down.”
One of the guards nodded. “Sir. We’re on it.”
I barely registered the chaos. My heart thudded in my chest like a drumbeat of panic. But then Zephyr turned back to me, and all that chaos dimmed.
“Amara, you’re coming with me. Now.”
His hand found mine, firm but careful, and before I could ask another question, we were already inside his private elevator, descending into the hidden underbelly of his building.
The silence stretched. My heart raced faster with every floor we passed.
“Zephyr,” I finally said. “What the hell is going on?”
He didn’t look at me. “My brother is sending a message.”
“Your... brother?”
His eyes flicked toward me—dark, turbulent. “Zayne. He was exiled from the company and from my life five years ago. But now he’s back, and he's not playing subtle anymore.”
I tried to steady my breathing. “He tried to kill you.”
“No. Not yet,” Zephyr said, voice like frost. “If he wanted me dead, I would be. That was a warning shot. To remind me he’s watching. That you’re now involved.”
I swallowed hard. “Because of me?”
“Because I care about you.”
Those words lit something inside me even as fear clenched my stomach. I should’ve been running for the hills. But all I could think about was how his hand hadn’t let go of mine.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal something I never expected—a penthouse bunker. Sleek, cold, impenetrable. And hidden.
“Stay here,” he said, pulling me in. “You’re safe here.”
“You can’t just leave me—”
“I’m not leaving.” He pressed a button, and the room sealed itself with a metallic hiss. “No one gets in unless I say so.”
His chest rose and fell heavily. His tie was loosened now, his shirt untucked. And yet, even with glass in his hair and danger on his doorstep, Zephyr Kane looked impossibly in control. Devastatingly male.
I stepped closer. “You didn’t answer me before.”
“To what?”
“Why me? Why did your brother target me?”
He looked at me then—really looked. “Because he knows I would tear the world apart if anything happened to you.”
I should’ve been terrified. I should’ve run. But instead, I whispered, “Then don’t push me away.”
That was all it took.
His mouth was on mine in an instant, hungry and unrestrained. This wasn’t the calm, careful CEO anymore. This was the man beneath—fierce, possessive, and burning for me.
He lifted me onto the edge of the bunker table, mouth exploring my neck, my jaw, every inch of skin exposed by the shaking of my hands pulling at buttons.
“I could’ve lost you today,” he muttered against my collarbone.
“You didn’t,” I whispered, fingers in his hair.
His hands found my thighs, spreading them as he stepped between, every inch of him radiating heat. “Tell me to stop.”
“I won’t.”
Our clothes hit the floor like falling dominos, and his body covered mine—every inch of contact a reminder that I was alive. That we were alive. And maybe that was why it felt so desperate, so intense.
His lips trailed fire across my chest, my stomach, as his hands explored every curve like he was memorizing me.
“I’m not letting you go,” he breathed against my skin. “Even if it means burning everything to the ground.”
And I believed him.
Because in that moment, I wasn’t just a girl who stumbled into danger.
I was his.
As we lay tangled in silence, my phone buzzed. One message. No name. Just a number I didn’t recognize.
“You don’t know what he’s done. But you will.”
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- Writer
