🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡
The doors opened to reveal a car that wasn’t a car at all, it was a fortress wrapped in wheels.
The vehicle crouched in the driveway like so predatory beast, its surface drinking in the morning light until nothing reflected back. Pure black tal, smooth as obsidian, seamless in a way that made my eyes struggle to find edges or seams.
This was the third car that I had seen with him since. The first one I had torn through to get to Kustav and then second splintered during the bombing.
Vladimir’s hand found the small of my back as we approached, fingers spreading wide against the curve of my spine. The touch was light—barely there—but it might as well have been a brand. A chill blood under his palm, radiating outward until my entire body humd with awareness.
His hand flexed.
Just once. A subtle shift of pressure, fingertips pressing deeper for half a heartbeat before returning to their careful restraint.
The jolt that shot through was violent, electric, stealing my breath and nearly buckling my knees. My pulse hamred against my throat as I fought to keep walking, to pretend that simple touch hadn’t just rewritten every nerve ending in my body.
Did he know? Could he feel the way I trembled under his hand, the way my body betrayed with each careful step?
His face remained a mask of cool indifference.
The car door opened with a whisper, revealing an interior that looked more like a private jet than any vehicle I’d ever seen. Leather the color of midnight, wood paneling that glead like liquid amber, and technology embedded so seamlessly it seed to pulse with life.
This would have to impervious to a bomb.
"After you," he murmured, voice low and rough against my ear.
I stepped forward, his hand still guiding , and slipped into the plush embrace of the seat. The door sealed shut behind us with a sound like a vault closing, and suddenly we were alone in this cocoon of luxury and barely contained tension.
The space between us felt charged, dangerous. And we hadn’t even begun to drive.
---
My body twtched under the weight of the tension, my legs choosing that exact ti to crave an itch. But every movent felt like a sin, as I buzzed with nervous energy.
On the thirty minute mark since e started the journey, I gathered the courage to ask. "Where are we going?"
Without eting my eyes, he replied., "The Lunar Sanctum. You will et the seer and she will explain your role as the Marked Hybrid and what your journey to Ascension will look like.
I swallowed, dread dampening my palms. From to the Beta, to the other Alphas, the woman called Olya and the ladies in waiting, I had not seen a kind face. I had little hope for this eting. "Why don’t you explain to by yourself?"
"A seer will be more thorogh," He returned plainly.
I nodded, wringinf my hands on my lap, tapping my foot. The silence had returned, even becoming sowhat heavier. I bit my lip, eyes darting out the window.
A shadowing figure in the woods.
My heart stuttered to a stop.
I blinked and when I opened my eyes, it was gone. Like he had never been there.
Was I seeing things?
I shook my head, brushing away the crawling eeriness that washed over . My heart slamd against my ribs, knocking the air out of my lungs.
"The Order of The Black Moon," Vladimir’s voice pulled back to the present, "Those responsible for the bombing."
My eyes darted to him. His eyes forward as he spoke. "They target marked hybrids."
My chest tightened, my words coming out strained. "Why?"
"It might be xenophobia, or sothing deeper." His jaw tightened, barely a crack in his composure. "They believe that hybrids corrrupt the natural order. That our bloodlines are to be pure."
The word pure dripped with disgust.
I shifted in my seat. "I am not the object of so prophecy, am I? I am one of many like ." I was not yet sure how to feel about it. Veronique had been the first to let it slip that I could be replaced in an instant when she was choking .
My neck buzzed, itching.
"Yes, you are," he replied. "To so you are a bride between the two realms, Lycan and human because of your dual heritage but to others; an abomination."
My stomached churned. The shadow in the woods flashed throght my mind again. It has been watching, waiting and it had disappeared before I could be sure it was real. "How many are like out there?"
"More than many will think but only a few awakened their Lunar Crest or find their wolves. And even less see the second phrase of their ascension." His words fell between us like stone.
The coward in wanted the topic changed. "About the Alpha Duel, is it to the death," I asked hastily.
His gaze flickered briefly to , before going back to settle on the road ahead. "Yes,"
The itch intensified. I pressed my palm into my shaking knee trying to stop the tremors. Even though his gaze was on , I could feel him still accessing . It set my nerves on edge. My mouth moved again, needing to fill the silence again, else my mind travel to tattoos I had beneath my fingers tips. "So is there one for Lunas?"
He quirked a brow. "A Luna Duel?"
"Yes," I chuckled nervously. Anything to not sit in silence as his presence leaves spiraling.
"Yes, it does exist. Though it’s been a long ti since the last one was called—half a century, to be exact."
A nervous giggle bubbled up from my throat before I could stop it. The sound felt foreign in the heavy air between us, too light for the weight of everything we’d been discussing. "God, imagine soone challenges because I’m supposed to be your wife and just... rips to shreds because I can’t fight."
The absurdity of it hit all at once—, who could barely handle Veronique’s hands around my throat, facing so seasoned Luna warrior in combat. Another laugh escaped, higher pitched this ti, edged with hysteria.
"I’d probably trip over my own feet before they even drew blood."
Vladimir’s knuckles whitened. Sothing dangerous flickered across his features, there and gone so quickly I might have imagined it.
"That won’t happen," he said, voice cutting through my nervous laughter like a blade.
The finality in his tone made my giggles die in my throat. I studied his profile, the rigid line of his jaw, the way his shoulders had gone taut beneath the perfect fit of his suit.
His eyes flicked to briefly, and for a mont I saw sothing raw beneath the ice, sothing that looked almost like possessiveness. Or protection. Maybe both.
I turned away, just as we were driven into a compound.
"We are here," he announced, voice still still strained from the tension.
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