MasukHe was on his hands and knees, completely naked, chest heaving. His skin was covered in sweat and streaks of blood, his glasses gone and his hair a mess. And he was shaking so hard I could see it from where I was tied up. For a long second, neither of us moved. I just stared at him, mouth open, tears still dripping off my chin. My brain felt like it had short-circuited. The guy who had been living in my house. The guy I slapped in the hallway. The guy who left food for me every night even when I treated him like shit. That same guy had just turned into a seven-foot monster, torn two kidnappers apart, and then shifted back right in front of me. “Miles…?” I whispered, voice hoarse and shaking. He slowly lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were still glowing faintly, that unnatural light burned behind his irises like embers that hadn’t fully died out. When he spoke, his voice was still thick with that deep, animalistic growl, like the monster hadn’t completely let go of him
Then it started walking toward me.And each step made the old floorboards creak under its massive weight. Blood dripped from its jaws with every movement, leaving dark smears on the concrete. My breath caught in my throat.“No…” I whispered, voice cracking. “No, no, no—stay the fuck away from me—”It kept coming.I started struggling hard against the ropes, twisting and yanking even though it only made them cut deeper into my wrists. Panic exploded in my chest like a bomb.“Stay back!” I screamed. “Don’t fucking come near me! Stay away!”The monster didn’t stop. It kept walking until it was only a few feet away. A broken, terrified sound tore out of me as I pressed myself back against the cold metal beam as hard as I could, like I could disappear into it.“Get away from me!” I screamed again, voice cracking into a high, panicked wail. Tears were streaming down my face now. “Please!”A wild, animalistic growl ripped out of its throat, and it roared right in my face.The sound was a d
I don’t know how much time passed after that.It felt like hours, but it could’ve been less. The cold had sunk so deep into my bones that I stopped feeling my fingers. My wrists were raw from the rope, and every time I shifted even a little, the fibers burned deeper into my skin. My face throbbed where he’d kicked me, and blood had dried on my chin and the side of my neck. I kept my head down, staring at the dirty concrete, letting the tears fall quietly because there was nothing else I could do.The men didn’t talk much after that. They checked their phones obsessively, pacing around the empty warehouse. Every few minutes one of them would curse under his breath and try calling that mysterious agent again. Straight to voicemail every single time.The deeper-voiced one was the first to snap.“Fuck this,” he muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “We’ve been sitting here for hours. He’s not calling back. He ghosted us.”The scarred man kicked an old metal chair across the
A single tear slipped out my eye, trailing hot down my cheek and dripping onto the concrete floor. I bit my trembling lip hard, so hard I tasted blood, trying to keep any sound from escaping.But somehow, they heard me anyway.The rough-voiced one stopped mid-sentence. “Wait. Did you hear that?”My entire body locked up. I forced my breathing to stay slow and shallow, but it was too late. The second guy stood up and I could hear his boots scraping closer across the floor.“She’s awake,” he said flatly. A hand shot out, grabbed my chin roughly and yanked my head up, a small, broken escaping my throat. My eyes flew open on instinct, meeting the face of the man in front of me. He was older, maybe in his forties, with a scarred lip. The hoodie guy from the parking lot stood a few feet behind him, arms crossed, watching.“Well, well,” the scarred one muttered, tilting my face side to side like he was inspecting merchandise. “Looks like sleeping beauty decided to join us. You hear all th
“I said stop fucking following me! I see you every goddamn night. What the hell do you want?”He didn’t answer and the silence stretched between us until I finally glanced around and realized how completely empty the street was. This… doesn’t feel right.Suddenly feeling a bit scared and creeped out, I took a step backward. “Listen, I’ve had enough of this. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but if you don’t back the fuck off right now, I’m calling the cops and—”Before I could finish my sentence, a hand clamped over my mouth from behind and a sweet chemical smell immediately hit me.My brain barely had time to register what was happening before another arm wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms to my sides. I tried to scream, but the sound was muffled against the cloth. So I kicked backward, my boots slamming into someone’s shin, and heard a low grunt of pain. But it wasn't enough to free me.I thrashed hard, twisting and jerking.My keys slipped from my fingers and clat
The days after that hallway slap stretched out in a strange way I couldn’t quite name. It also became difficult to hate Miles as much as I wanted to, and that pissed me off more than anything. Though, I appreciated the fact that he kept to his word because after that night he never pushed, never hovered, never tried to insert himself into my space or my grief like some well-meaning parasite. He stayed out of my way completely, and the longer he did it, the harder it became to keep feeding the fire I’d been stoking since the second Dad brought his luggage through the door. Exams ended too. And as I walked out of that building, the first place I went was the police station, because the second the last bell rang, Camila’s face was the only thing left in my head. What happened after that… Well, I think you can guess. I yelled, demanded updates and threatened to go to the news if they kept treating her file like it was already boxed up in some dusty basement. They gave me the s
I woke to the sound of screaming. The crack of something heavy slamming into something harder—dragged me out of sleep like someone yanked me underwater. My eyes flew open, breath hitching in my throat as I jolted upright. For a second, I had no idea where I was. The room was dark except for the
We walked closer, following the heavy beat of the drums, and the air shifted. It was heavier somehow, as if the entire village was holding its breath. I clutched Ethan’s arm as my eyes darted toward the procession coming from the dirt road that cut through the forest line. They weren’t just ran
The warmth of the cabin didn’t erase the sting. I winced as Ethan crouched beside the bed, dabbing a soaked cloth gently over the scrape on my shoulder. The antiseptic bit at my skin, sharp and clean, and the scent of it mingled with the woodsy air around us. “Sorry,” he muttered, his brows f
Morning came slow. The kind of slow that slips between the blinds in ribbons of gold, not ready to announce itself yet. The quiet had a weight to it—like the whole world was pausing, holding its breath. I rolled over, the blanket slipping down my shoulder. One arm flopped out, hand grazing th







