Mine In The Dark

The Reply

Elara slept with the newest note under her pillow.

She told herself it was just so she wouldn’t lose it. That was a lie. The truth was that the words He won’t follow you again. I made sure. made her feel safer than every lock on her door. When she finally drifted off, she dreamed of broad shoulders and the quiet scent of mint and rain.

Morning came soft and gray. She reached for her phone before she even sat up and found a string of messages from Maya and Tessa that had started late the night before.

Maya:

you never texted us when you got home

are you alive or did shadow man finally kidnap you in a romantic way

Tessa:

Please don’t joke about k********g.

Elara, just send a thumbs up so we know you’re okay.

Maya:

or a detailed report. I’m accepting either.

Elara typed back quickly, still half-buried in her blankets.

Elara:

I’m fine. Something kind of happened on the way home. I’ll explain later.

Her phone lit up almost immediately.

Maya:

DEFINE “KIND OF HAPPENED”

I’m putting on real pants and coming over if you don’t elaborate

Tessa:

We’re both free after twelve. Café or your place?

Elara stared at the ceiling for a long moment, then answered.

Elara:

My place. I’ll tell you everything.

She dragged herself out of bed, washed her face, and opened the nightstand drawer. The black stone, the feather, and the three notes sat together like a small, secret collection. She touched the edge of the newest one, then closed the drawer again.

When she stepped into the hallway to take out the trash, Riven’s door opened at the same time.

They both stopped.

He was in a plain black T-shirt and dark jeans, hair still messy from sleep, a fresh stick of bubblegum already moving slowly in his mouth. The size difference hit her all over again. Even standing several feet away he seemed to take up most of the hallway. She had to tip her head back slightly to meet his eyes.

“You okay?” he asked, voice rough from the morning.

Elara nodded. “Thanks to you.”

Something tightened in his jaw. He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he only gave a short nod and locked his door. They walked toward the stairs together in silence. At the bottom he held the building door open for her the same way he had the night before. This time his gaze lingered on her face a second longer, like he was still checking for any leftover fear.

“Don’t walk alone at night for a while,” he said quietly.

“I won’t.”

He looked at her for another heartbeat, then turned and walked in the opposite direction. Elara watched him go until he disappeared around the corner, the faint scent of mint and pine still hanging in the cool morning air.

Maya and Tessa arrived at noon with takeout and matching expressions of concern and barely contained excitement. The second the door closed behind them, Maya set the food on the counter and pointed at Elara.

“Spill. All of it. Especially the part where your neighbor looked like he was about to commit a felony for you.”

Elara told them everything — the man who had followed her, Riven stepping out of the alley, the way he had only needed one sentence and one step forward to end it, the walk home, and the note waiting for her inside.

Maya let out a long, appreciative whistle.

Tessa looked both relieved and more worried than before.

“So the same man who’s been leaving you notes just happened to appear the exact moment you needed him?” Tessa asked carefully.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence,” Elara said.

Maya dropped onto the couch like her legs had given out. “You’re telling me your hot neighbor is most likely the secret watcher, he has been inside your apartment, he knows your coffee order, and last night he scared off a creep just by existing? Elara. This is no longer a slow-burn. This is a full forest fire.”

Elara covered her face with both hands. “Please stop talking.”

“I will not. I’m emotionally invested.” Maya leaned forward. “Did he touch you?”

“…He put his hand on my back for a second when people were walking past.”

Maya screamed into a throw pillow. Tessa reached over and gently pulled Elara’s hands away from her face, her expression softer.

“Just… be careful, okay? Even if it feels safe. Especially because it feels safe.”

Elara nodded. She didn’t say that careful was getting harder every day.

After her friends left, the apartment felt too quiet. Elara cleaned up the takeout containers, wiped down the counters, and found herself standing in front of the nightstand again. She opened the drawer and took out the three notes, spreading them on the bed.

Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she reached for a small notepad and a pen.

Her handwriting looked uncertain next to his sharp, controlled letters.

Thank you.

For the coffee. And for last night.

I don’t know who you are… but I feel safer knowing you’re there.

She stared at the words for a long time. It felt strange to write back to someone who still had no face and no name. It also felt right.

Elara folded the small piece of paper, walked to the window, and placed it on the sill beside where the first black stone had appeared. She left the window unlocked.

Just a little.

Then she turned off most of the lights and sat on the couch with a book she didn’t really read, listening to the soft sounds of the building around her. Every creak of the floor and every distant door made her glance toward the window.

On the other side of the wall, Riven stood in the dark with his forehead pressed to the plaster, eyes closed. He had heard her friends arrive. He had heard Maya’s loud voice and Tessa’s quieter one. He had heard Elara tell them what happened. And he had heard the exact moment she decided to write back.

When the soft sound of the window latch reached him, his entire body went still.

He waited until the lights in her apartment dimmed. Then he moved.

Silent. Careful. He left his own apartment, climbed the short distance to her window from the fire escape he had used more times than he wanted to admit, and found the small folded note waiting on the sill like an offering.

Riven picked it up with fingers that were not entirely steady. He read it once under the glow of the streetlight. Then again.

Thank you.

For the coffee. And for last night.

I don’t know who you are… but I feel safer knowing you’re there.

Something in his chest cracked open so wide it almost hurt.

He looked through the glass. She was on the couch, knees pulled up, the soft light of a single lamp touching the side of her face. She looked small and warm and completely unaware that the man she was thanking was standing only a few feet away, drowning in the scent of her and the weight of every rule he was about to break.

Riven pressed the note flat against his heart for a second, right over the place that had belonged to her for years.

Then he took out his own pen, turned her note over, and wrote three words on the back.

You already know.

He left it on the sill, closed her window properly from the outside, and disappeared back into the dark before he could do something irreversible.

Inside the apartment, Elara eventually stood and walked to the window to lock it for the night. She found her own note still there… and the new line written on the back in the same sharp handwriting she had started to memorize.

You already know.

Her breath caught.

She lifted her head and looked across the quiet street, across the rooftops, into every shadow that suddenly felt alive.

For the first time she whispered into the empty room, voice soft and uncertain and full of something that felt dangerously like hope.

“Riven…?”

On the other side of the wall, the wolf who had waited in the dark closed his eyes and smiled like it hurt.

The treaty was still holding.

But only by a thread.

And that thread was about to snap.