The sky above the city was bruised with nightfall as Kai stepped through the veil.
The spell that cloaked the vampire court's territory shimmered like oil in water ancient and ugly, humming with the promise of pain. But Kai didn't flinch. Not anymore. He'd carried life inside him. He'd held death in his arms. This? This was just another door.
As he crossed the threshold, his boots clicked against black marble streets. The city beyond was nothing like the woods cold towers made of obsidian and bone rose high, suffocating the moonlight. This place reeked of rot and arrogance. It reeked of Adrian's past.
And somewhere inside it… he was here.
Kai's heart clenched.
He hadn't spoken Adrian's name aloud since the baby was born. Not in full. Not like it meant hope. But now, as his fingers brushed the blade at his hip, he breathed it quietly, like a war drum under his breath.
"Adrian."
The guards didn't notice him at first.
The glamour clung to him well courtesy of the witch he'd left the baby with. But even magic had its limits. As he turned down a narrow alley of carved skulls and crimson lanterns, one of them sniffed the air.
And froze.
"Wolf," the guard snarled. "Omega."
Kai smiled. "Not quite."
The blade slid free with a hiss, and in the space between heartbeats, he moved.
The first guard didn't even get to scream.
The second managed a gurgle before Kai's dagger kissed his throat. He pressed the body against the wall, panting, adrenaline hot in his veins. His scent was shifting no longer floral and soft. Now it was sharp. Wild.
Like a predator.
And the vampires? They would learn that an omega with nothing left to lose was more dangerous than any alpha with power.
He wiped the blood from his blade and kept moving, past empty temples and blood-fountains, down into the crypts where screams were swallowed by stone.
He could feel Adrian now.
Not just in his chest. Not just in memory. But in the air.
Each step echoed with more than sound it echoed with a pull, like something inside Kai was being reeled in. A bond frayed and faded… sparking back to life.
And when he reached the iron doors at the end of the corridor, he didn't knock.
He broke them down.
What he found inside wasn't what he expected.
Adrian chained to the wall, shirtless, bleeding but still beautiful, still breathing, his eyes glowing low in the dark like twin embers that refused to die.
He looked up. Dazed. Then focused.
"Kai?" His voice cracked. "You.....how?"
Kai stepped forward, blade still dripping.
"You should know by now, love," he said, throat tight. "I don't that break easily."