Ren slipped through the shadowed corridors like a ghost, bare feet silent against the plush carpet.
The mansion's east wing gave way to service stairs, then a narrow servants' passage that slled of old wax and lemon polish. He pushed through a side door into the night air.
The garden stretched before him, manicured hedges, marble fountains, moonlit rose bushes that looked too perfect to be real. He crouched low and moved fast, sticking to the darker patches between lanterns.
Halfway across the lawn, a beam of light snapped on.
"Stop right there."
A security woman stepped out from behind a trellis. Black tactical vest, short-cropped hair, stun baton already extended. Her eyes narrowed at the shirtless man in night pants who clearly didn't belong.
Ren slowed but didn't stop walking toward her. His fingers flexed. One quick attack from him to her neck and she'd be on the ground twitching. Easy.
But before he could move his hands, the woman's posture changed. Shoulders dropped. Baton lowered. Her face went blank, eyes glassy.
In a flat, chanical monotone she said:
"My love… you should keep moving, the gate is open for you to escape. I'm waiting for you in the back alleys near the municipal council. We need you. Please co. Safe. I'm your beloved Anna."
Ren blinked once.
Then a slow grin spread across his face.
He walked right past her. She didn't twitch. Just stood there like a statue that had finished its line and seeing that Ren was half naked she took of her own shirt underneath the jacket and gave it to Ren.
"Thanks for the escort," he muttered under his breath.
At the garden's edge he vaulted the low stone wall and dropped into the service alley behind the estate. From a distance, maybe two hundred ters, he caught movent at the mansion's main entrance.
Victoria stord out, silk robe flapping open at the front, barely tied. Hair wild. Face flushed with fury and sothing else. She barked orders at the guards who finally appeared, pointing in every direction.
Ren paused just long enough to watch.
He lifted his right hand, the sa hand that had been inside her minutes ago in that impossible dream-or-not-dream. Slowly, deliberately, he dragged his tongue along the pad of his index finger.
"You won't forget now, Victoria," he whispered to the night. "I'll co see you again once I et your daughter. And that mont… you won't forget it for the rest of your life."
Then he turned and ran.
The municipal council building lood ahead, all white marble columns and floodlights, the most heavily guarded structure in this half of the city. Patrols circled the periter. Snipers on the roof. Checkpoints at every approach road.
Ren didn't head for the front.
He veered left, down a narrow service road that hugged the building's shadow until it spat him into the back alley.
The change was imdiate.
Pavent cracked. Streetlights flickered or didn't work at all. Piles of trash spilled from overflowing bins. The air slled of urine, burnt plastic, and sothing chemical.
Rats skittered across his path in waves.
And then the won appeared.
They leaned against graffiti-covered walls, eyes glassy, clothes torn or too tight, skin marked with needle tracks and bruises. They watched him like starving dogs watching a fresh steak.
One of them, a thin woman with matted blonde hair pushed off the wall and stepped into his path.
"Hey pretty boy," she rasped, licking cracked lips. "You look lost. Want so company?"
Ren tensed, ready to shove past or worse.
But she suddenly blinked hard. Expression flattened.
"Keep walking, boy," she said in the sa dead monotone he'd heard three tis now. "She is waiting to see you."
The other won echoed the movent, stepping aside in eerie unison, faces blank, voices overlapping in flat chorus.
"Keep walking."
"She's waiting."
Ren exhaled through his nose.
Anna's reach was getting terrifying.
He walked faster.
At the very end of the alley, a tal door set into a crumbling brick building creaked open. A woman's silhouette appeared, hood up, only her hand visible, urgently beckoning him inside.
Ren broke into a jog.
The mont he crossed the threshold, strong arms yanked him forward.
He barely had ti to register warmth and softness before he was crushed against a body in a hug so tight his lungs forgot how to expand.
"Ren—"
The voice cracked.
He knew it instantly.
Anna.
She buried her face in his neck, trembling. Her grip was desperate, like she thought he'd vanish if she let go even a fraction.
Ren's arms ca up automatically. He hugged her back, feeling every curve, every shudder. Her hair slled of smoke and cheap soap and sothing uniquely her.
After several long seconds she pulled back just enough to look at him.
Tears streaked her cheeks. Her eyes were red-rimd, exhausted, but shining. Her face looked thinner than he rembered, cheekbones sharper, but it was still her—still Anna.
"My love," she whispered, voice breaking. "I missed you terribly."
She surged forward again, hugging him so hard he actually wheezed.
Ren returned the embrace, hands sliding up her back, feeling the knobs of her spine beneath thin fabric. Soft. Warm. Alive.
*They might be harmful for in the future,* he thought as her heartbeat thundered against his chest. *But who could resist this? This feeling of a woman loving you so much that even if you were dead, she'd wait. It's addictive. If only that fucking goddess hadn't twisted it into sothing that'll kill .*
He pressed his lips to the top of her head.
"Really," he murmured against her hair, "what's wrong with her?"
Anna laughed once...a wet, shaky sound—and pulled back again.
"I missed you terribly too," Ren said, cupping her face, thumbs brushing away tears. "Are you okay, Anna? What is all this? What are you up to?"
She glanced over her shoulder.
About a dozen won stood in the dim entryway, so in patched jackets, others in scavenged tactical gear. All watching him with varying degrees of curiosity and suspicion.
Anna took a breath.
"Everyone—this is Ren. My… everything." She looked back at him, eyes softening. "These are the Liberators."
Murmurs rippled through the group.
One woman, a tall one with a shaved head and scar across her eyebrow gave a slow nod.
Anna squeezed Ren's hand.
"Co. Let's talk inside." She turned to the scarred woman. "Tell the leader I'll introduce him later."
The woman dipped her chin and disappeared up a side stair.
Anna tugged Ren toward another staircase, this one narrow and creaking. They climbed to the second floor. She pushed open an ordinary wooden door.
Inside was a plain room: single bed with a threadbare blanket, small table, one chair, a cracked window letting in moonlight. No luxury. No traps. Just survival.
She closed the door. Locked it.
Then she turned.
And everything changed.
Anna stepped forward slowly, eyes locked on his.
"I missed you," she whispered. "Every second. Every breath. I thought—" Her voice cracked. "I thought I'd lost you forever."
She reached up, fingers trembling, and touched his jaw like she needed proof he was real.
Ren caught her wrist gently, brought her palm to his lips, kissed it.
"I'm here," he said quietly.
That broke her.
She lunged.
Their mouths crashed together...desperate, ssy, hungry. Anna kissed like she was drowning and he was air. Hands fisted in his torn shirt, pulling him closer, closer, like distance was the enemy.
Ren groaned into her mouth and kissed back just as hard. One hand tangled in her hair, the other slid down her spine, pressing her flush against him.
*Internal thought raced through him while their tongues tangled.*
*I need to be in love with the woman to extract their skills. That's the rule. The curse. The gift.*
He opened his eyes just enough to look at her.
Anna's lashes were wet, cheeks flushed, lips swollen. She looked like soone who'd walked through a desert for years and finally found water.
*She's drinking in like I'm salvation.*
Ren's chest tightened.
*I like people who like . Even if she's a yandere. As long as she desires this much… I'll love her. And we'll see where that road ends.*
He broke the kiss just long enough to breathe.
His hands dropped lower.
He grabbed both her ass cheeks firmly, squeezed, and pulled her up so her legs wrapped around his waist.
Anna gasped against his mouth, thighs clamping tight.
She imdiately noticed Ren's strength, but it was the least of her concerns. She was already soaking wet. She hadn't masturbated even once since the day she lost Ren.
In this world, won possessed the sexual drive of two n from Ren's original world and right now, it was as if her body was screaming, begging to be taken, filled, and properly ravaged.
Ren carried her two steps and pressed her back against the wall beside the bed.
"Do you want to do it, baby?" he murmured, voice rough, lips brushing hers. "Right now?"
Anna's answer was a shaky, fervent nod.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders.
"Yes," she breathed. "Please. Show you are real."
Ren smiled against her mouth.
"Would gladly...I am your first man...I will be the only man for you."
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