The Watch
Julian did not sleep. Not once.
Lena's weight pressed faint against him, streaks of rust dried into his shirt. Every shallow breath, every twitch of her ribs, he counted like prayer. His arms stayed locked, as though his hold alone could keep her tethered to the world.
Dawn crept pale across the glass. The city stirred awake, indifferent. But his world was only this: the flutter of her pulse at his wrist, the uneven rhythm of her breathing.
Her words replayed. I deserved it.
Each repetition drove deeper, a blade under his ribs.
He bent his mouth to her hair, inhaling soap, skin, something fragile and entirely hers. His jaw clenched hard. He would not let her lose it.
The Fracture
The kitchen floor replayed.
Blood bright against her palm. Silence filling her lungs until it nearly erased her.
Then Ethan's face: jaw locked, eyes sharp with drink, venom curling in his mouth.
Julian's fist knotted in her hair, rage burning so hot it blurred his sight. He forced it down. Not now. Anger was useless against her silence.
But later,
Later it would be war.
He adjusted her higher, tucking the blanket around her shoulders. The bruises he had counted with his eyes, he swallowed them like fire. He would not forget. Not one.
The Vow
Her lashes stirred, half waking. He smoothed her temple, hushed her with his breath. She sighed and drifted again.
He studied her face. Beautiful even in ruin, fierce even hollowed out. His thumb brushed the faint track of a tear at her cheek.
"She's mine," he whispered into the morning quiet. Not to her. To himself. To the bone.
Not mine to command.
Not mine to break.
Mine to guard.
Mine to anchor.
Mine to love, though he had never meant to.
The word settled, dangerous and undeniable. Love.
And with it came the vow:
Ethan would never touch her again.
The Dawn
Light grew stronger, shadows dissolving. Julian lowered his jaw to her hair, fierce in his stillness.
She murmured once, lips brushing his jaw in her sleep. The faintest, unconscious claim.
"You are my sanctuary," she whispered, almost soundless, but heavy as truth.
Julian's eyes closed, arms tightening around her, a vow binding itself deeper than blood: Ethan would never touch her again.
But outside, the city waited. And so did the snare.