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The photo burned on my screen.
Me—caught between two storms, framed by glass and neon like prey in a cage.
And the words below it:
[One minute left, Velvet.]
My throat closed.
Someone out there was watching.
Close.
Too close.
"Who sent that?" Stone's voice cracked through the silence like a gunshot.
Not loud—but lethal.
Wolfbane laughed under his breath, rolling his shoulders like a wolf stretching before the kill.
"Guess the line for her just got longer."
Stone's gaze sliced to mine, hard enough to pin me to the chair.
"Get up."
I did.
Not because I wanted to.
Because my legs moved on instinct, trembling like a deer hearing the crack of a branch behind it.
Stone's hand clamped around my wrist—firm, unyielding, heat searing straight through my skin.
Not pain.
Not gentle either.
Just control.
"Where the hell do you think you're taking her?" Wolfbane's voice curved sharp, lazy menace dripping from every syllable.
Stone didn't look at him.
"Anywhere you're not."
The chair Wolfbane had been sitting in scraped back, the sound loud and ugly against the tile.
And then he was on his feet, too close, too fast.
One second of stillness—
Then the air detonated.
Wolfbane's hand shot out, catching Stone's shoulder.
Stone turned, fluid, like he'd been waiting for it.
His free hand came up, steel around Wolfbane's wrist before the grip could tighten.
They froze—two forces locked in silence.
The table between them shuddered.
My lungs forgot how to work.
And then—movement.
A twist.
Wolfbane's wrist bent back a fraction too far, enough to make tendons scream—
But his smile didn't break.
It widened.
"You're strong," he said, voice a low purr.
"I like that."
Stone's jaw flexed once.
"Take your hand off me."
Wolfbane leaned in, their faces inches apart, eyes burning like coals.
"Make me."
The café was dead silent now.
Even the barista had vanished.
It was just us, and the storm ripping itself open in the middle of the night.
Stone moved first.
A hard shove, Wolfbane stumbling back a step—but laughing, always laughing, like this was a game he couldn't lose.
"Relax, big man," Wolfbane drawled, straightening his jacket.
"You really think I'd hurt her? Please."
He slid me a glance, molten and wicked.
"I'd worship her."
My stomach dropped through the floor.
Because in his eyes, there was no joke.
None.
The phone buzzed again.
I yanked it up with shaking hands.
New photo.
Outside the café now.
The sidewalk.
The black SUV parked at the curb.
Caption:
[Thirty seconds.]
My pulse went nuclear.
"Stone—" I choked, shoving the screen at him.
He looked.
And for the first time tonight, something flickered across his face.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
"Change of plans," he said, voice like steel snapping.
He gripped my hand tighter, pulling me toward the door.
"We're leaving. Now."
Wolfbane blocked the path before I could blink.
"Not without me."
Stone didn't even slow.
"Out of my way."
Wolfbane smiled like sin.
"Or what? You'll break me in front of her?"
He leaned in close enough to whisper against my ear.
"Do it, Stone. Show her what kind of man you really are."
The weight of his words slid under my skin like ice.
Because I wanted him to.
I wanted—
God, I didn't even know what I wanted anymore.
The door slammed open.
Cold air knifed in.
And a man stepped through.
Not Stone's man.
Not Wolfbane's.
Someone else entirely.
Tall.
Black coat sweeping the floor.
Face hidden under a hood—
But I knew.
I knew.
Because he didn't walk like a stranger.
He walked like a promise.
Like the message burned into my phone.
Stone turned slow, every line of his body coiled to strike.
Wolfbane stopped smiling.
The man didn't look at them.
He looked at me.
Straight through me.
And then he spoke—soft, smooth, and lethal.
"Time's up."
Before I could scream, hands—strong, gloved—closed over my arms.
Not Stone's.
Not Wolfbane's.
And then I was gone.
Out the door, into the freezing night, the world spinning in shards of neon and shadow—
While behind me, two predators roared.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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