Mine In The Dark

The Neighbor

Elara woke to the soft sound of rain against the window and the black stone still sitting on her nightstand.

For a moment she just stared at it, the events of the previous night settling over her like a second blanket. The note was still folded beside the stone. She picked both up, turning the smooth dark rock between her fingers before placing them carefully in the top drawer of her nightstand. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

She got ready for work slower than usual, every small sound in the apartment making her glance toward the windows or the front door. Nothing else had appeared overnight. No new notes. No new gifts. Just the quiet lingering feeling that someone had been close.

By the time she locked her door and stepped into the hallway, she had almost convinced herself she was overthinking everything.

Almost.

That was when she saw him.

Riven Kade stood three doors down, locking his own apartment. He was impossible to miss. Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt that did nothing to hide the solid build of his arms and chest. His dark hair was slightly damp from a shower, and a faint scent of mint and something deeper — rain and pine — drifted toward her. A stick of bubblegum moved slowly between his teeth as he turned the key.

He looked up.

Their eyes met.

Elara felt the strange, low pull in her stomach that she always felt around him. She had lived next to him for months and still wasn’t used to the way his presence filled the hallway. He was so much larger than her that standing near him always made her feel small in a way that was both unsettling and strangely safe.

Riven gave her a short nod. His voice, when he spoke, was low and even.

“Morning.”

“Morning,” she answered, gripping the strap of her bag a little tighter.

He finished locking his door and walked toward the stairs at the same time she did. The hallway suddenly felt narrower. Every step he took closed more of the space between them. Elara’s pulse picked up for no good reason. She focused on the stairs, on the sound of the rain outside, on anything except how close he was.

At the top of the staircase he paused, glancing down at her.

“You’re leaving earlier than usual.”

She blinked. “You notice when I leave?”

Something flickered across his face — too fast to read — before he looked away and started down the stairs first.

“Thin walls,” he said simply. “I hear the door.”

It was a reasonable explanation. It should have been enough. Still, Elara followed him down, watching the way his broad shoulders moved under the black fabric. He held the main door open for her when they reached the bottom, standing aside so she could pass. The rain had softened into a light drizzle. Cool air brushed her face.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

Riven gave another quiet nod. He didn’t walk in the same direction she did. He never did. He simply stood there for a second longer than necessary, eyes following her as she stepped out onto the sidewalk, before turning and heading the opposite way.

Elara told herself the warmth in her chest was just from walking quickly.

She was a terrible liar.

Work passed in a blur of emails and mild headaches. By lunch she had already checked her phone three times for messages from Maya or Tessa and found nothing urgent. She was putting her phone away when it buzzed.

Maya:

update on the mysterious fridge man

did he leave you breakfast or a love letter this morning

Tessa:

Please stop calling him fridge man.

Maya:

fine. Shadow man. Watcher man. Tall dark and possibly illegal man.

Elara. Answer.

Elara smiled despite herself and typed back.

Elara:

No new notes. But I saw my neighbor on the way out.

He’s… a lot.

Maya:

the hot one??

the one who looks like he could bench press a car and still have energy to ruin someone’s life??

Elara:

Maya.

Maya:

I’m just saying. If shadow man turns out to be him I’m going to need a moment.

Tessa:

You’re going to need therapy.

Elara locked her phone and tried to focus on work, but the conversation stayed in the back of her mind for the rest of the day. By the time she left the office the rain had stopped, leaving the streets wet and reflective under the streetlights. She walked faster than usual, keys already in her hand, the memory of the note about working too late pressing against her thoughts.

The hallway of her building was quiet when she stepped inside. She climbed the stairs, reached her door, and froze.

A single dark feather rested on the doormat.

Not a large one. Not dramatic. Just a clean, black feather placed carefully in the center, as if someone had set it down with purpose. Elara stared at it for several seconds before slowly bending to pick it up. It was soft between her fingers. Underneath it was another folded piece of the same thick paper.

Her heart beat once, hard.

She unlocked the door, stepped inside, and only then opened the note.

You walked faster tonight.

Good.

The feather is from the crow that was watching the alley behind your building.

It won’t be there tomorrow.

— The one who watches

Elara’s back touched the closed door. She read the note again, then a third time. Someone had been near enough to know she walked faster. Someone had been near enough to deal with a crow in the alley. Someone was still taking care of small, invisible threats she would never have noticed.

She pressed the note to her lips for a second without thinking, then pulled it away, cheeks warming at her own action.

A soft sound from the hallway made her go still.

Footsteps. Heavy. Controlled. Stopping just outside her door.

Elara held her breath.

For a long moment there was only silence. Then the footsteps continued, moving past her apartment and farther down the hall. A door opened and closed. She knew that sound. It was the door three units down.

Riven’s door.

She stood there with the feather and the note still in her hands, pulse loud in her ears, staring at the wood of her own door as if she could see through it.

On the other side of the wall, Riven leaned his forehead against the cool surface, eyes closed, jaw tight. The piece of bubblegum in his mouth had long since lost its flavor. He had followed her home from a distance the way he always did. He had dealt with the crow that had been lingering too long in the alley. He had left the feather and the note before she arrived.

And still it wasn’t enough.

He could hear her soft breathing through the wall. He could smell the faint lavender of her apartment and the warmer scent that was simply her. His hands flexed at his sides, fingers threatening to shift into claws before he forced them still.

Not yet.

The treaty still held.

But every day the wait grew heavier.

Riven pushed away from the wall, walked to the window of his dark apartment, and stared out at the wet street below. Somewhere behind the thin wall, Elara Valey was still standing with his newest note in her hands.

He spoke so quietly the words barely existed.

“Soon.”

In her apartment, Elara finally moved. She placed the feather beside the black stone in her nightstand drawer and folded the new note carefully with the first one. Then she sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the closed drawer, the quiet feeling of being watched settling over her once again — stronger than before.

She didn’t know that the man who watched her was only a few steps away.

She didn’t know how hard he was fighting to stay there.

And she didn’t know that the small, ordinary life she was living was already beginning to tilt toward something she would never be able to walk away from.

Outside, the rain started again, soft against the windows.

And on both sides of the wall, neither of them slept easily that night.