The street was empty, but I could feel it—the eyes that weren't mine.
Shadows stretched too long, whispers lingered too close, and my chest tightened with every step.
I hugged my coat tighter. It's just the wind… just the wind… I tried to convince myself.
Then he appeared.
Tall. Dark. Dangerous. And impossibly beautiful. Kaelthorn Draevis. His presence swallowed the night, yet somehow made me the only thing in the world he could see.
His gaze locked onto mine. Black as molten shadows, sharp enough to cut. I froze, heart hammering.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, low and commanding.
I wanted to run. My feet refused. My chest ached—not just with fear, but with a heat I couldn't explain.
He tilted his head, studying me with an intensity that made my knees weak. A smirk curved his lips, dark and knowing.
"Just… ordinary?" I whispered, barely audible.
"You are anything but ordinary, Seren Veylin," he replied, each word threading into my mind, pulling me closer, claiming me before I even realized it.
Panic and desire tangled together, leaving me trembling. I wanted to resist, to scream, to run, yet something deep inside ached for him.
He stepped closer, and I felt the icy weight of him brush against me. My skin tingled, my body reacting against reason.
"Move away from me," I breathed.
Kaelthorn smiled, and the curve of his lips ignited something inside me—a dark, irresistible fire.
"Run? You could try. But you won't. Not when your heart already belongs to me."
My chest tightened. My stomach fluttered in defiance and need. Fear and lust coiled together, impossible to untangle.
"You… you don't even know me," I whispered.
"I know enough," he said, voice a dangerous caress. "I know you, and soon… you'll know me entirely."
A gust of wind swept past, carrying shadows that seemed to bend around him. The world itself obeyed him, and I realized with a shock—he had chosen me.
And I, against every instinct, wanted to be claimed.
This night would change everything.
Because Kaelthorn Draevis had found me.
And I would never be the same again.