POV: Seraphine
They'd made themselves comfortable.
Like, real comfortable.
Kaiden had already kicked his boots off and was sprawled across the long couch like it was his birthright. Zaire had claimed the fluffy floor throw and was curled up like a lion about to nap, and Theodore—bless his brooding ass—was the only one still half-sitting, half-standing like a suspicious IKEA display that might fight you. One arm rested on the armrest. His eyes were scanning. Always scanning.
Seraphine stood in the doorway to the living room, arms folded, watching them. Her apartment. Her kitchen. Her night. Hijacked by three mythologically hot men who apparently didn't understand what boundaries meant.
Right. Okay. Cool. No big deal. Just three walking red flags casually making themselves at home in my kitchen like it's the Home Shopping Network's 'Daddy Edition.'
She turned on her heel and headed toward her bedroom, ignoring the way her tail instinctively curled tight against her leg. She was fine. She just needed a moment. One. Quiet. Moment.
Door closed. Lock clicked.
She sat on the edge of her bed and reached into the plush robe pocket where she'd tucked it: the small white envelope from earlier. Still sealed, but that annoying little fox sticker on the front mocked her. Too smug. Too clever. She peeled it open, fingers careful, and pulled out the contents.
One fox-tail-shaped USB.
And a tiny card that read, in loopy handwriting:
"To new friendships — V."
She stared at it.
"Is this a threat? A prank? A coded compliment?"
She turned the USB over in her fingers. It was warm. Not just from her hand. There was something about it—like it carried a hum, a pulse, a whisper saying "open me."
But she didn't.
She shoved it back into her robe pocket and forced herself to breathe. Not tonight. Not now. Not when there's already a supernatural sleepover going on outside.
---
POV: Kaiden
"I call the long couch," Kaiden announced, already stretching across it like a cat in sunlight. "Dibs, legally binding. Can't be undone."
Zaire grunted from the floor, shoving a blanket under his head. "You didn't even wait for a coin toss."
"Because I'm handsome. It's how I pay for things."
Theo, meanwhile, was perched on the arm of a chair like someone trying not to break expensive furniture. His broad frame made the whole thing look like it might give up the will to live at any second. He sighed heavily but said nothing.
Kaiden bent backward into a full lazy stretch, shirt riding up just enough to be obnoxious, hands behind his head. "Anyone wanna play strip poker?"
"Die," Zaire said flatly.
A beat.
"…Reverse strip poker?" Kaiden added helpfully.
It was about then that Seraphine re-entered the room. Her steps were quieter than before. Controlled. Her expression unreadable.
Kaiden was the first to notice her eyes flick across the room, flicker once toward her robe pocket, then drop back to the couch.
He whistled low, playful. "You've got that look."
She blinked. "What look?"
"That 'someone just saw a ghost in their emails' look."
"I'm just tired," she said smoothly, but her voice was a little too sharp.
Kaiden sat up a little straighter, reading between the syllables. "You sure?"
"Would you drop it if I said no?"
He grinned. "Nope. But I'd back off until you're ready."
That… seemed to surprise her. Just enough to break the tension. Her shoulders eased slightly. She didn't answer, but her eyes softened.
Kaiden reached over and snagged the last slice of pizza from the box, held it up between two fingers like a sacred offering. "I saved you this. Not because I like you. Purely for the karma points."
Seraphine stared at the pizza, then him. Raised a perfectly sculpted brow. "Your generosity is suspicious."
"My generosity has abs," Kaiden said solemnly. "Respect it."
Her tail flicked against the floor, a quiet betrayer of her mood.
She took the pizza.
---
POV: Zaire
Zaire wasn't asleep. Not even close.
He was curled up on the throw blanket like some obedient dog on the floor, but every muscle under his skin was quietly coiled. That noise earlier—during dinner—wasn't his imagination. And the more he thought about it, the more it nagged at his gut like something was off. Out of place. Too deliberate.
He stretched casually, one arm out behind him, brushing his knuckles subtly beneath the couch.
Nothing.
Just the usual dust bunnies and a crumb or two of pizza crust. Kaiden. Zaire made a mental note to scowl at him later.
Still… he didn't like it. That subtle drag of fabric on wood from earlier? No creak, no shuffle since. Nothing that justified it.
Then his eyes snagged on something. A glint. A shimmer. Peeking just slightly from the pocket of Seraphine's robe as she passed through the kitchen again.
His breath hitched.
It wasn't the shimmer of jewelry. No. He recognized that shape. That particular curve and fuzz.
A fox-tail USB.
His eyes narrowed.
You've got to be kidding me.
He knew exactly what that was. A calling card. Not just some quirky Etsy trinket — no, that specific model was custom-milled and encoded with a burn signature that only one particular hacker ever used.
Vixzen Kazehana.
Cyber-gremlin. Digital menace. The myth. The nightmare of global surveillance programs everywhere.
And apparently… Seraphine Valak had received a personal delivery from her?
That didn't make sense. Not unless…
Zaire's eyes slowly shifted to Seraphine. She didn't look like someone who trafficked in elite-level data ops. Her tail was gently swaying again, lazily flicking behind her. Her robe was wrinkled. Her expression distant. She looked more like someone running on fumes than espionage.
But the USB was real.
And someone had delivered it. Tonight.
"Why would a high-profile hacker leave a calling card for an event planner?"
He didn't say a word. Just filed it away. For now.
---
POV: Seraphine
The apartment had settled into an almost strange calm.
Zaire handed her a mug of tea — steam curling up in a comforting spiral — and their fingers brushed. Just a second too long. She ignored it. Or tried to. Her nerves were already hijacked by the USB sitting like a phantom in her robe pocket.
"Thanks," she murmured.
Zaire nodded. "Chamomile. You seemed like a chamomile person."
"I feel like a crime scene."
"Then… criminal chamomile?"
Her lip twitched. The smallest ghost of a smile.
Across the room, Kaiden was now trying to stack plastic takeout containers on Theodore's back while he "meditated." Or possibly passed out. Theo swatted him once, without opening his eyes. Kaiden grinned, victorious.
It was chaos. Gentle, well-armed chaos. But Seraphine couldn't focus on it. Not fully.
Her eyes drifted to the USB again.
So fuzzy. So harmless looking. And yet…
The last time someone left her a gift, it was her ex, and it exploded in her face. Emotionally, legally, and once… literally. (Rest in peace, second blender.)
Still, this didn't feel like danger.
This felt like something else.
She finished the tea and set the mug down with more purpose than necessary.
Time to find out what the fox said.
---
Her room was dim. Warm. Safe.
The bed was a half-slept mess. Her laptop hummed faintly on the nightstand, lid closed like it had been waiting for her. She sat cross-legged in the middle of her sheets and finally, finally fished the USB out of her robe.
It clicked into the port with a satisfying little pop.
No virus alerts. No booby traps. Just one blinking folder that auto-opened after three seconds.
Inside, cascading files. No labels. Just numbers. Dozens.
She hesitated. Her mouse hovered over one.
Click.
Then another.
And another.
Redacted. Redacted. Redacted.
But three weren't.
Three glowed with pale gold highlights, like someone wanted her to find them.
She clicked on the first.
---
🔒 Kaiden Lucis
Reclassified: Former Pact Enforcer — Rogue Status
> Subject exhibits signs of voluntary detachment after extraction.
Has severed ties with high command. Combat ability remains high. Emotional volatility: contained.
Her stomach twisted.
She clicked the second.
---
🔒 Zaire Mavros
Classified: Subject Recovery Type 2A — Active/Unstable
> Memory seal performed after incident [REDACTED]. Subject stable, but unpredictable.
Monitor for re-triggered recall events. Suppression protocol optional. Recommended: observation.
Her fingers grew cold.
The third file opened slowly, like it knew it was the worst one.
---
🔒 Theodore Rhime
Status: Elysium Asset — Override Clearance Active
> Subject exhibits dual loyalty. Tracker authorization ongoing.
Has exceeded standard parameters. Unexplained power surges noted. Asset or threat pending review.
Seraphine's hands hovered over the mouse, her entire chest tight.
These weren't just filings.
These weren't just guys who accidentally flirted their way into her apartment.
They were dangerous. Complicated. Watched.
And someone wanted her to know that.
Her tail curled tightly around her thigh as she stared at the glowing laptop screen.
"They're not just hot. They're dangerous. And someone wanted me to know."
She shut the lid slowly. Sat in the dark. Silent.
And didn't sleep a wink.