Chapter Six – "Whispers in the Crowd"
Class that Monday was unbearable. Not because of the assignments or the professor's droning voice, but because of the stares.
Every girl in the room seemed to have discovered a sudden fascination with me. Some whispered, some giggled, and one—Maya, the volleyball captain—actually slipped me a folded note with a phone number on it.
And across the room, Clara's glare could've melted steel.
I didn't understand it. I'd been invisible for years. Then a cat walks into my life, and suddenly the universe decides I'm… what? Desirable? Targeted? Doomed?
When I got home that night, Selena—still in cat form—leapt onto my desk and swatted the note from Maya onto the floor.
"I don't like her handwriting," she said.
"…You can read?" I asked, dumbfounded.
Her emerald eyes narrowed. "I can do many things."
That was when my phone buzzed again. Another unknown message.
"They're closing in. Tonight."
Before I could react, a crash echoed from the alleyway outside my apartment.
And that was the night I learned exactly why Selena had chosen me.
Classes the next day were a circus I hadn't signed up for.
Clara—the one who used to barely remember my name—leaned across my desk to "borrow a pen" she didn't need. Maya cornered me in the cafeteria with a smile sharp enough to draw blood. Even quiet Naomi from the library gave me a look that was… not the academic kind.
I should've felt flattered. Instead, my stomach twisted into knots.
Because every time one of them smiled at me, I felt Selena's eyes burning into the back of my head.
A cat shouldn't be able to glare like that. Yet somehow, she managed.
When we got home, the air in my apartment felt wrong. Thicker. Heavier. Like the silence before a storm.
Selena jumped onto the windowsill, tail flicking in agitation. "They're watching us," she said softly.
I wanted to laugh it off, but my phone buzzed again.
UNKNOWN: Stop pretending she's yours. You don't know what you picked up.
I froze. My pulse pounded in my ears.
That's when the first brick shattered through my window.
I barely had time to duck. Glass rained across the floor, and shadows moved in the alley below—three figures in dark tactical gear, rifles slung across their backs, masks gleaming under the streetlights.
Monster hunters. Or mercenaries. Or both.
Selena leapt from the sill, landing between me and the broken window.
"Ethan," she hissed, her voice deeper now, resonating with something inhuman. "Stay behind me."
Her body shimmered, the edges blurring as though reality itself had grown nervous. Then, before my stunned eyes, her feline form stretched, lengthened, burst outward in a flare of light and shadow.
When the glow faded, a girl stood there.
A girl with emerald hair streaked with midnight, eyes burning like twin suns, and a beauty so sharp it made my throat tighten.
My stray cat had become a goddess—and the hunters outside had just realized they weren't stalking prey. They were cornering a predator.
By the time the fight ended, the mercenaries were gone—one limping, one unconscious, one simply… gone.
I sat on the floor, shaking, shards of glass cutting into my palms, staring up at her.
She turned, her hair a tangled halo, her eyes softening when they found mine.
"I can't stay a secret anymore," she whispered, kneeling beside me. "So tell me, Ethan… do you still want me here?"
The question burned hotter than any of the gunfire had.
And just as I opened my mouth, my phone buzzed again.
UNKNOWN: Now you've done it.
The hunters didn't wait.
One shouted something into his radio—words lost to the sound of his rifle cracking. A bullet screamed past my ear, punching through the wall. Another shredded my pillow into a puff of cotton snow.
"Down!" Selena snarled, and the sound wasn't a girl's voice anymore. It was layered, monstrous, vibrating through my chest like thunder.
She moved. God—she moved.
Her body twisted mid-air, claws flashing where fingers had been, tail unraveling from her spine like a whip of shadow and light. The merc's rifle snapped in half before he could blink, metal curling like paper under her grip.
Another swung a blade glowing with some unnatural hum—probably forged for one thing: killing things like her. Selena caught his arm, pulled him close, and for a moment her face wasn't beautiful at all. It was terrifying. Fangs bared. Eyes blazing. The man screamed as though she were looking into his soul.
The third? He didn't even get the chance to strike. She vanished, her shape bending through the shadows of my ruined apartment, then reappeared behind him, dragging him to the ground with a sound that made me want to close my eyes.
I didn't.
Because somehow, through the terror, through the chaos, I couldn't stop staring.
Not at the blood. Not at the violence.
At her.
Her hair spilling like fire down her back, her movements too fast, too fluid, too impossible. This wasn't a stray cat. This wasn't just a girl.
This was something else. Something ancient. Something mine.
And that thought scared me more than the bullets.
When it was over, my apartment looked like the set of a horror movie. Glass everywhere. Walls scarred with bullet holes. Furniture shredded like paper.
Selena stood in the center, chest heaving, her body shimmering as if she couldn't decide whether to stay monstrous or human.
Then she turned to me.
And all at once, the predator melted away. What was left was a girl kneeling on the floor, eyes wide, lips trembling as though she was afraid of what I might say.
"I told you I was trouble," she whispered. "But you picked me up anyway."
Her hand reached for mine. It was warm, trembling. So human it hurt.
I wanted to say something clever. Something calm. But all that came out was:
"You're beautiful."
Her cheeks flushed a shade I'd never seen before.
But before I could lean closer, before the silence could turn into something else entirely, my phone buzzed again.
UNKNOWN: You should've let them take her. Now they're all coming.
The phone buzzed again. Same UNKNOWN contact.
UNKNOWN: You should've let them take her. Now they're all coming.
I froze. My hand shook so hard I almost dropped the phone.
Then another buzz. A different UNKNOWN, the numbers slightly different.
UNKNOWN: You think you're special because she chose you? She's a monster. She'll eat you alive in the end.
Selena's hand tightened around mine. "Show me."
I hesitated—because part of me didn't want her to see. But she snatched the phone anyway, eyes narrowing as she scrolled.
Her expression flickered—fear, anger, something else I couldn't name.
Another buzz.
This one wasn't even from a phone. It appeared across my laptop screen, glowing in red text like something hacked its way in.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE IS. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE WAS MADE FOR. RETURN THE CAT, ETHAN. OR YOU DIE TOO.
The power flickered. Lights snapped out. For a second, the whole world felt like it had stopped breathing.
Selena whispered: "They've found us."
But I wasn't sure she meant just one "they."
Because when the lights came back on, I swear—swear—I saw something move in the corner of my room. Not human. Not mercenary. Something crawling, its shape bending too many ways at once before vanishing into shadow.
I blinked, and it was gone.
"Selena…" I whispered, but my throat was dry. "What was that?"
She didn't answer. She just pulled me close, her voice breaking like glass:
"You weren't supposed to see any of this yet."
Chapter Seven – When the Monsters Wear Masks
The next morning, the world pretended nothing happened. Birds sang. The sun burned golden over cracked rooftops. The city went about its business like it hadn't tried to swallow me alive last night.
But I couldn't forget. I couldn't ignore the texts, the shadows, the words Selena had whispered.
And worst of all—I still had to go to school.
At first, it was the stares. Then came the whispers.
"Who is she?"
"No way that's his girlfriend."
"She's too perfect. Bought, right? Imported model or something."
"Or maybe she's just pitying him. Poor Ethan, the debt boy."
Their words crawled under my skin like insects.
Selena walked beside me, in her human form—effortless, radiant, terrifyingly different. She smiled politely, like the whispers didn't touch her. But when one girl "accidentally" bumped me against the lockers, Selena's eyes sharpened into slits, predator-bright.
I caught her wrist before she could snap. "Not here," I whispered.
But every step through that hallway felt like I was dragging a live grenade.
At work that night—the diner where I washed dishes until my fingers pruned—I noticed two customers who never ate. Suits. Sharp eyes. They kept glancing at their watches, at me, at Selena when she slipped in to "walk me home."
When I brought their water, one leaned closer. His voice was calm, polite, but colder than steel.
"You know," he said, "some things that look like strays aren't meant to be pets."
I froze. He smiled like it was a joke. But his partner slid something under the table—sleek, metallic, glowing faintly.
A tracker. Or a weapon. Or both.
Selena grabbed my wrist before I could ask. "We have to go. Now."
We made it halfway home before the streetlights flickered out. One by one, like dominoes.
And in the silence between each flicker, I heard it. Dragging claws. Breathing too wet. A shape too long to be human.
Selena spun, half-shifted, her arm glowing faint with that monster energy she'd been hiding. Her eyes locked on the darkness.
But it didn't attack. It just… laughed. A gurgling, distorted sound.
Then a whisper—not from my phone, not from a human throat, but from everywhere at once:
"You stole her, little boy. She was ours first."
The night felt too still. The streetlamps hummed faintly as Ethan and Selena walked side by side, their footsteps oddly synchronized, almost rehearsed. The air clung heavy to his skin, like the city itself was waiting for him to misstep.
Ethan kept glancing at her. She was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that left his chest aching because he couldn't tell if she was simply tired… or holding back a secret.
Her golden eyes flicked toward him once, then away. It was the smallest thing, a glance lasting less than a heartbeat—but it was enough to leave him dizzy.
"Selena…" Ethan started, his voice catching. He wanted to say thank you—for walking with him, for existing, for making his bleak little life feel less empty. But the words tangled into something else:
"…are you sure you're safe here? With me?"
The cat-girl in human disguise tilted her head, smiling faintly. "Safe?" Her voice was velvet stretched over steel. "No one is ever safe, Ethan. Not really. But safer with you than without."
The honesty of it almost knocked him over.
When they reached the apartment, the cheap hallway light above flickered twice, like a heartbeat stuttering. Ethan's hand hovered over the door. He froze.
There it was again. That prickling in his spine. Like unseen eyes pressing down. Watching. Waiting.
Selena must have felt it too. She shifted closer, her shoulder brushing his arm. For a moment, Ethan almost believed he could hear her heartbeat—or maybe it was his own, echoing in her.
The lock clicked. He opened the door. The apartment was dark, colder than usual, the hum of the fridge strangely absent. His chest tightened.
"Ethan," Selena whispered, so soft he almost thought he imagined it.
"Yes?"
"…don't leave me alone tonight."
The words weren't romantic, not exactly. They were a plea, raw and real, dripping with something heavier than fear.
Ethan nodded. He didn't trust his voice.
They stayed like that for a while, two people in borrowed silence, her curled at the corner of his worn-out couch, him pretending to review notes for tomorrow's classes. The truth was, his eyes barely registered the words. All he could see was her—her stillness, her impossible beauty, and the shadow lingering in her golden gaze.
Outside, down the street, a pair of headlights turned off abruptly. A black car idled with its engine muted. Inside sat two men in corporate-gray suits, their eyes fixed on Ethan's window.
The monster hunters weren't the only ones circling.
Chapter Eight – "The Cat Who Wasn't Yours"
Morning arrived jagged, like glass under bare feet.
Ethan dragged himself to school, Selena padding alongside in her cat form, tail twitching irritably. He kept his head down as they passed the gates. He could already feel it—the stares, the whispers.
"Isn't that the stray he always carries around?"
"Ugh, weird. No wonder he never fits in."
"Wait—didn't you see that new girl with him last night?"
The rumors had mutated overnight. By the time he reached class, they were wildfire.
Selena sat on his desk in feline form, golden eyes gleaming, utterly unbothered by the daggers of envy stabbing at Ethan from every corner. She yawned like a queen who didn't notice her subjects gossiping.
But jealousy burns hot—and some girls don't just whisper.
At lunch, it happened. One of the most admired girls in school—Lina, with her perfect curls and flawless laugh—cornered Ethan in the cafeteria. Her voice rang loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ethan! Be my boyfriend!"
The cafeteria gasped. It was so loud, so absurd, Ethan nearly dropped his tray. His first thought wasn't even why. It was: Selena's watching.
Because she was. And her golden eyes narrowed, a flicker of something sharp in them.
Everyone's gaze ping-ponged between him, Lina, and the cat.
"W-what?" Ethan croaked, his ears burning.
"You heard me." Lina twirled her hair, pretending at playfulness, but her eyes cut toward Selena with surgical intent. "You're interesting. Mysterious. I like that."
Ethan knew a trap when he saw one. But the entire cafeteria was watching, leaning forward like an audience waiting for their favorite drama to climax.
Before he could answer, Selena leapt from the table—still in cat form. She landed neatly in his arms, curling possessively against his chest.
Lina's smile faltered. Students laughed nervously.
Ethan wanted to vanish into the floor. But in that exact instant, the small plastic strap of his backpack tore—and he didn't see the tiny blinking dot fall inside.
A tracker.
Planted when? By who? Ethan didn't notice.
But across the street, in a black van with tinted glass, the corporate mercenaries did. Their screens lit up. A red dot pulsed.
Target acquired.
The cafeteria buzz didn't die down. If anything, it grew louder with every breath Ethan took.
He was standing in the spotlight without ever wanting it, and the stage was merciless. The laughter, the whispers, the sharp little stares—every pair of eyes pinned him like insects on a board.
"Ethan," Lina pressed, leaning forward so her perfume carried across the space. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you've never had a girl confess before?"
That earned more giggles.
Heat rose in Ethan's face. He hated the way his body betrayed him, the way his throat locked, the way his palms sweated like he was some cornered animal. He wanted to say no, to make it clear—but saying it outright meant stepping into their game. And in their game, he'd always lose.
Selena purred against his chest, low and deliberate, her golden eyes glowing faintly like a challenge only Lina could see.
The room seemed to split into two worlds.
One where Ethan was just another boy—awkward, tired, barely surviving school.
And another where Selena, the impossible, dangerous girl who walked beside him in secret, silently claimed him before everyone else.
He swallowed hard. "I—I don't think—"
"Don't think?" Lina's laughter rang false. "You don't have to. Just say yes."
But she wasn't looking at him anymore. Her eyes were locked on Selena. Like this wasn't about Ethan at all.
And for the briefest second, Ethan saw something flicker in Selena's gaze—something dangerous, something feline and territorial that didn't belong in a crowded cafeteria full of oblivious students. Her fingers twitched against his arm, as though part of her was itching to bare claws she shouldn't have.
Ethan leaned his head slightly, whispering into her fur so only she could hear. "Don't. Not here."
Her purring stopped.
Then—like nothing happened—she leapt from his arms, tail flicking as she landed gracefully on the floor. She padded away, indifferent, like queens often did when mortals annoyed them. But Ethan felt the tension, the restrained violence in every step.
The cafeteria didn't notice. They laughed and whispered instead, spinning rumors as naturally as breathing.
By the time Ethan sat down again, Selena had disappeared.
Ethan's apartment felt too large without her. He tried to study. He tried to distract himself with part-time work spreadsheets. But every shadow stretched too long, every creak of the walls felt like it carried footsteps.
Then—three knocks on the door. Slow. Deliberate.
His chest tightened. He didn't move.
Another knock.
"Ethan…" a voice whispered from outside. Feminine. Familiar.
His heart leapt—Selena?
But something was wrong. The tone wasn't hers. It mimicked her softness, but it was hollow, off-key, like an echo through broken glass.
He backed away.
The lights flickered once.
And then, without warning, Selena was inside—slipping through the window, breath ragged, hair wild. She was bleeding. The crimson streak down her arm glowed faintly, almost unnatural.
"Don't open the door," she hissed, slamming it shut herself. Her pupils were thin, predatory slits.
Before Ethan could ask—glass shattered. A bullet tore through his wall.
Outside, the black van had emptied. Men in corporate-gray armor advanced in silence, weapons glowing faintly blue—tech designed for one thing: capturing things that weren't human.
And behind them… something else moved. A shadow, too large, too wrong. A monster, its body flickering in and out like broken static.
Selena snarled, half-human, half-beast for the first time before him. Her golden eyes lit with raw fury. Her teeth flashed sharper than they should have been.
"Stay behind me," she growled, voice layered with something unearthly.
And Ethan realized with gut-deep terror—
She wasn't just disguising herself for safety.
She was hiding because the world was already hunting her.
The room exploded before Ethan could breathe. The door splintered inward under the weight of a boot, and three mercenaries in gray body armor stormed inside. Their helmets glowed with scanning lenses, humming softly as they locked on target.
"Asset located," one of them said in a flat, digitalized voice.
Selena moved.
She shoved Ethan down behind the couch, the air rippling as her shape stuttered. For a half-second she looked entirely human—then her skin shimmered, cracking like glass. Fur rippled beneath flesh. Her jaw lengthened, eyes widening into brilliant molten gold, slitted like a predator's.
She didn't fully change—not yet—but the half-shift was enough to terrify him. The girl he'd carried like a stray cat was something more primal, more violent, something that should never have fit inside a body so delicate.
And yet—he couldn't look away.
Selena's hand—claw now—slashed across the first mercenary's chestplate. Sparks burst as metal tore like paper. The man collapsed, choking through his helmet.
The second merc lifted a glowing rifle—too slow. Selena spun, tail snapping out like a whip. The weapon shattered.
But the third wasn't aiming at her. He was aiming at Ethan.
"Target B: the boy."
The muzzle lit.
Ethan froze, every nerve screaming but body betraying him.
Then Selena lunged—half-human, half-cat, all fury. The shot tore through her shoulder instead of him. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air.
Her scream shook the walls. Not human. Not cat. Something older.
The mercenaries fell back, regrouping, their suits hissing warnings. But outside, the other presence moved closer—the distorted, flickering beast that stalked in static jerks like reality couldn't hold it.
Through the shattered window Ethan saw it clearly now: a hulking creature, black-veined, skin like broken stone, face shifting between skull and shadow. It was chained, dragged behind the van. The mercs hadn't brought it for containment. They'd brought it as a weapon.
And it smelled Selena.
The thing roared, shattering the apartment glass.
Ethan's body moved before his brain did. He grabbed a kitchen knife—stupid, useless, but it was something. He stood at Selena's side, shaking but refusing to move away.
"Idiot," she snarled, blood dripping down her arm. "Stay down!"
Her tail lashed, ears flickering into existence before flattening again as she forced them back. She was fighting herself—fighting to stay human where he could still recognize her.
The creature lunged through the window.
Time broke.
Ethan saw everything in fragments:
— Selena's claws fully extending, curving wickedly.
— Her golden eyes flaring like suns.
— The mercs falling back, panicked.
— The monster's jaws opening impossibly wide.
Selena roared back, meeting it head-on. Her body snapped into a fuller form—taller, limbs stretched, fur bristling over muscle, wings of shadow flickering on her back like broken light.
Not human. Not cat. Something stranger. Something the mercs had every reason to hunt.
She slammed into the beast mid-air, and the apartment collapsed around them in a hurricane of claws, teeth, and rage.
Ethan ducked, covered his head, debris raining down. Every sound was violence. Every second was survival.
And then—silence.
When the dust cleared, the mercs were gone, the van abandoned, tire tracks burned into the street. The monster's body lay in ruins on the floor, its form dissolving like smoke into the night.
Selena crouched in the rubble, heaving. Her claws dripped with something black. Her golden eyes dimmed, fading until she looked almost human again—almost.
Ethan crawled to her, heart hammering. "You—Selena—you're—"
She grabbed his wrist, tight enough to bruise. Her voice was low, ragged, trembling with something beyond exhaustion.
"They'll come back. And next time… they won't just want me."
Her gaze locked on his. Her pupils, still slitted, reflected the streetlight outside.
"They'll want you too."
Chapter Nine – Ashes in the Morning
I woke up choking on plaster dust.
The smell of burnt wires still hung in my room like a ghost.
My apartment—or what was left of it—looked like a bomb had gone off. The windows shattered, couch shredded, books torn in half. I sat up slowly, my arms trembling, body aching like I'd been through a war.
And maybe I had.
On the floor, Selena lay curled up, her human form restored, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. Blood stained her shirt, and I remembered in one brutal flash the sound of the rifle shot, the smell of scorched skin.
She had taken that for me.
I knelt beside her, brushing dust off her hair. "Selena?" My voice cracked, more afraid than I wanted it to be.
Her eyelids fluttered open. For a second, the golden predator eyes glared through, then dimmed into soft brown. She winced. "I… told you… to stay down, idiot."
I almost laughed. Almost. Instead, I said, "You saved me. Again."
Her lips twitched in something between a smirk and a grimace. "Don't get used to it."
But her fingers curled around mine. Warm, trembling, real.
The landlord nearly fainted when he saw the wreckage.
"Mr. Cross, what in God's name—this place is ruined!"
I didn't have an excuse. Not one that wouldn't land me in an asylum or interrogation room. So I just bowed my head and muttered, "I'll… pay for it. Somehow."
He scoffed. "You're three months behind already." His eyes darted to Selena, standing barefoot in my oversized hoodie, bruised but breathtaking in that way that made my stomach knot. He frowned. "Is she… living here now?"
The jealousy wasn't just at school anymore.
I muttered something vague. He left shaking his head, muttering about eviction notices and insurance.
Selena leaned against the wall, watching me. "You can't stay here. They'll find you."
"I don't have anywhere else," I said flatly. It was true. My entire life had been bills, debt, and borrowed time. I didn't have a safe house. I barely had a house.
She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Then I'll make one. For both of us."
The way she said it—quiet, determined—made something twist in my chest.
School was worse.
The rumors had exploded overnight. Apparently, someone had filmed me carrying Selena through the wreckage of the apartment block, her hair wild, her clothes torn, her face pale but godlike.
Now half the girls in class who'd never spoken to me suddenly smiled, asked if I wanted to sit with them. Even Marissa—the one who used to mock my thrift-store shoes—leaned against my desk and whispered, "So… is she your girlfriend?"
I choked on my water.
From the back of the room, Selena watched, her expression unreadable. Her beauty was almost unreal in the harsh fluorescent lights—like she didn't belong here, among chipped desks and half-broken projectors.
I wanted to scream the truth. She's not just my girlfriend. She's something else. Something that nearly killed me and saved me in the same night.
But I couldn't.
Because the truth wasn't safe anymore.
That night, I found the first envelope.
It was tucked under my door, heavy paper, no name. Inside: a single photograph.
Me.
At work.
Carrying a tray of plates in the diner.
The photo was circled in red ink. And underneath, three words burned into the page:
"You are marked."
Selena was waiting by the window, her eyes glowing faint in the dark. She didn't ask where the letter came from. She didn't need to. She already knew.
"They've turned their eyes to you," she whispered. Her voice shook, not with fear, but with rage. "And that means… we run."
I swallowed hard, clutching the photo until it crumpled in my fist.
"My life was already falling apart," I said. "Now it's not even mine anymore."
Selena stepped forward, her hand brushing my cheek, grounding me in the chaos.
"It's ours now," she said softly.
And somewhere outside, in the shadows of the city, another van engine growled to life.
The hunt had already begun again.