The car moved like a shadow swallowing the neon-lit streets.
I was wedged between the leather seats, hands pressed into my lap. Every breath felt borrowed.
Stone and Wolfbane were outside.
I could feel their presence, hear the faint echo of their movements, the distant tap of shoes on wet pavement.
And inside the car?
Silence.
Not empty.
Not safe.
Just silence coated with menace.
The man next to me didn't speak.
Didn't need to.
His eyes, dark and infinite under the hood, followed me like a predator tracking its prey.
Every glance, deliberate. Calculated.
"Where are we going?" My voice trembled.
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he shifted, the faintest movement, enough to make the leather creak.
"Somewhere you'll understand the rules."
My stomach knotted.
Rules.
The word hung in the air like a guillotine.
"Rules?" I pressed. "Whose rules?"
Finally, his lips curved—just a fraction, not a smile, just the shadow of one.
"You'll see soon enough."
The phone buzzed.
Stone.
We're outside. Where is she?
Wolfbane.
Don't you dare. She's ours.
The messages scorched my nerves.
I didn't respond. I couldn't.
Because I couldn't. Move.
Or speak.
Or think straight.
Every instinct screamed that I was in danger.
Every other instinct whispered: And I like it.
I pressed my back against the seat, trying to disappear.
The car stopped. The engine hummed. Silence again.
Then the door opened.
A hand reached for me.
Gloved, heavy, controlled.
"Out," he said.
I obeyed. Feet hitting pavement.
Air like ice.
Streetlamps throwing long shadows.
And I realized.
This wasn't just a pickup.
This was a game.
And I was the pawn.
Stone and Wolfbane's voices erupted from the distance, orders and threats colliding.
I flinched.
The man beside me didn't move.
Didn't react.
Just let them rage.
And when Wolfbane started to push closer—stepping into the perimeter—he spoke.
"Step back."
One word.
Like a steel blade cutting the air.
Wolfbane froze.
Stone's shout didn't break his composure.
"I said—step back."
Calm. Absolute. Deadly.
I swallowed.
This man… wasn't human.
Or if he was, he was something close.
Something that bent the rules, controlled the world without lifting a finger.
Stone and Wolfbane, two predators, two storms—
And this man was the hurricane center, silent, unyielding.
"Why me?" I whispered.
He tilted his head, shadow swallowing his face.
"Because you can survive it."
My chest tightened.
Because I realized that wasn't reassurance.
It was a warning.
"Both of them want you," he continued.
"Both think they can own you. And both will burn cities to get you."
My heart thudded.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream. I wanted to vanish.
I didn't know which was worse—fear or thrill.
"Do you understand now?" His voice cut through the dark, low, smooth, relentless.
"Your life… isn't yours anymore."
And that's when it hit me:
He wasn't lying.
Stone and Wolfbane outside.
This man controlling the inside.
And me… in the middle.
Trapped. Between storms. Between kings. Between a god I didn't see fully yet.
"Wh-what do you want from me?" I finally croaked.
A smile, slow, deliberate.
"No one thinks about what they want until it's too late."
I shivered.
Because he was right.
And the phone buzzed again.
Stone.
Last warning.
Wolfbane.
You know I can get her.
I realized then: I had no choice.
Not really.
Every option led somewhere dangerous.
And yet, a wicked little spark inside me… whispered: Maybe I can turn this to my advantage.
I swallowed. Tightened my fists.
And for the first time tonight… I smiled.
Let the game begin.
The man beside me noticed.
A tilt of his head.
"You understand the rules?"
I nodded.
Because I did.
And because I didn't.
And somewhere far behind, in the shadowy streets, Stone and Wolfbane were already moving.
But the game… was no longer theirs alone.
The man stepped back.
Car door opened.
And I knew, with every nerve screaming, that nothing I had done before…
Not a single choice, a single lie…
Had prepared me for what was coming next.
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TO BE CONTINUED…