The door closed behind me with a whisper, cutting off the city, the streets, the rain.
Inside, it was impossibly quiet, impossibly large.
The space stretched like a cathedral of shadow and glass. Dark leather, polished steel, subtle lights that highlighted corners but left most of the room shrouded.
Every surface screamed wealth.
Every shadow promised danger.
I realized quickly—I wasn't just a guest here.
I was the centerpiece.
The man moved beside me, silent as a phantom.
Every step measured. Every motion deliberate.
He didn't guide me. He didn't push. He just… let me move, and I obeyed.
"Sit," he said finally.
Not a question. A command.
I obeyed. The chair swallowed me, leather pressing cold against my skin.
And then… he studied me.
Not like a man studying another human.
Like a predator observing the precise movements of prey it intends to trap.
"Do you understand the danger you're in?" His voice low, velvet, lethal.
I swallowed.
"Yes," I whispered.
But the lie tasted bitter in my mouth.
"Good."
He tilted his head.
"Because danger is the only language people like you understand."
I flinched.
Because beneath the words, I felt it: control. Absolute. Unyielding.
My phone buzzed.
Stone.
We're not done. We'll find you.
Wolfbane.
Relax, princess. We always do.
I didn't respond.
I couldn't.
Not while my fingers still shook, not while my lungs still struggled against the suffocating tension.
The man beside me finally moved, slow.
Deliberate. Close enough that his shadow fell over me.
"Two wolves," he murmured.
"Both chasing. Both hungry. And you… are in the middle."
My pulse jumped.
"How do you know?"
He smiled.
Not kindly. Not soft.
Just enough to make the skin on my neck prickle.
"I see everything."
The words didn't reassure me.
They didn't need to.
Because the truth was undeniable.
I was completely exposed.
Completely trapped.
And… for reasons I hated myself for, I felt a thrill that licked along my spine.
"You want to play?" His eyes caught mine in the dim light.
"Understand—there are rules. Rules you'll learn. Rules you can bend. But break them, and it won't be a game anymore."
I swallowed.
"Yes," I said.
And my voice was steadier than I felt.
The man nodded once.
And that was enough to tell me he believed me.
"Good."
He leaned back.
"Because tonight… you'll meet them again. Both of them. And you will decide how to survive."
I froze.
The word decide cut deep.
Because it wasn't just survival.
It was choice.
And I had no idea how much power I truly held—or how much I could lose.
The phone buzzed again.
Stone.
Last warning.
Wolfbane.
We always find a way.
I realized then—both were already in motion.
Both already crossing streets, navigating alleys, converging on me.
The man beside me didn't flinch.
He didn't even glance at the screen.
He simply said, quietly, coldly:
"They think they control the game. They don't. I do."
And in that moment, I understood.
I had been a pawn.
Now, I was a player.
And the rules…
were about to change.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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