The Night He Claimed Me

Chapter 9: The Hunt Begins

The hallway smelled of rain, smoke, and something metallic-the taste of blood in the air before a storm.

Charles pressed me behind him, every muscle in his body taut, ready to strike. The tempest outside hammered against the estate like a war drum, but the real battle was about to unfold inside.

“I just can’t believe he’s here,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “How does he find us every time?”

Charles didn't reply. His gaze, however, settled on the far end of the hall, shrouded and barely visible in that poor light. The house creaked and groaned around us, the walls responding to the tension that filled the air.

Then we heard it.

A slow, deliberate footstep. Another. Then a third.

Kade Mercer stepped into view, tall, dark, dangerous. The glint of malice in his eyes was sharp enough to cut. The storm outside reflected off his wet hair outlining him like some fallen angel of death.

"Charles," he said nonchalantly, voice dripping venom, "I've been looking for you."

“I don’t think you want me,” he said evenly, his voice low and controlled. But I saw the tightness in his jaw, the flare of his nostrils.

“I don’t want you,” Kade said with a smirk. “I want her.”

I swallowed hard. My pulse pounded. The air around us seemed to crackle with tension, electric and suffocating.

Charles shifted in front of me. “Stay behind me,” he warned, his voice dangerous, not a request.

I nodded, clutching his coat. My body pressed against him, feeling the heat radiating from him, every nerve alive.

Kade's smirk widened. "You think you can keep her from me, Charles? Really?"

Charles's hand flexed at his side. The shadows around him seemed to respond, curling and twisting like living things. "Try me," he said, voice low and lethal.

A blinding flash of lightning outside lit up the hallway as a bolt struck. In that instant, I knew-this wasn't a fight anymore. This was war.

Kade dove.

Lightning-fast, Charles moved. Faster than I could track. His hand lashed out, catching Kade’s wrist mid-strike and twisting it with a precision that took my breath away. Kade grunted, but his other hand flicked something silver

I froze. A glint of a blade—or was it a talisman?—passed inches from Charles's face.

Charles's head jerked toward me. "Hale! Behind me—now!"

I moved, heart hammering, barely registering the danger as he positioned himself between Kade and me.

The two men circled each other like wolves, deadly, hungry, precise.

Kade's voice was even, taunting. "She's afraid, Charles. And soon, she'll belong to me."

Charles laughed, low and vicious. “She already belongs to me, Kade. And you will learn—very painfully—why that is.”

The air thickened around us. Shadows danced on the walls, rising in reaction to Charles's rage, and Kade's presence seemed to be a distortion within reality itself-warping, twisting, alive.

I realized, in that second, with a jolt of terror and something darker, that this wasn't just a fight for control. It was for me.

Charles suddenly pulled me close to him, clutching my hand and pressing me against his chest. His warmth, the steady heartbeat beneath my ear, anchored me. "Stay calm," he whispered, voice low, but shaking with barely contained rage.

I nodded, and fear and something else, a heat I couldn't name, flooded me.

Kade snarled, launching himself once more. But Charles had anticipated every move, every strike, every tactic. The fight was a blur—speed, shadow, precision.

Yet Kade wasn't just a man. He was something darker, older, dangerous in ways even Charles hadn't fully anticipated.

The hall shook. Outside, the storm roared back in answer. Lightning cracked through the windows, illuminating the rage in Charles's eyes and the cruel smile on Kade's face.

And then Kade stopped.

For a fraction of a second.

He smiled at me.

That split second froze my blood.

Charles hissed in frustration. “Don’t look at him!”

I couldn't help it. Something primal, terrifying, drew me to Kade's eyes.

He whispered almost in a purr, "Little bird. you're mine."

Charles's hand shot up, gripping my wrist, pulling me flush against him. His lips brushed my ear.

“No. You are mine. Don’t ever forget that.”

The words were fire, ice, everything at once. My body betrayed me, my heart racing and pulse wild; a shiver ran through me that wasn't entirely fear.

Kade snarled, lunging again. This time Charles moved with lethal precision, grabbing my other hand and pulling me behind him as shadows twisted violently around them both.

Paralyzed and terrified, I watched Charles unleash something I hadn't seen before. The shadows around him thickened, black and alive, striking at Kade like a swarm of serpents.

Kade hissed, sending them off in a burst of energy I didn't understand.

And then he grinned.

“You can't protect her forever, Charles.”

Charles's eyes were pure fury. "Watch me."

Again, a flash of lightning, and the world seemed to shrink to three occupants: Charles, Kade, and me.

And for the first time, I realized I wasn't just a pawn in this game.

I was the prize.