Ava
woke up instantly.
No grogginess. No slow drift between sleep and reality.
Just
awareness.
Because something was
wrong.
Her instincts kicked in before her thoughts did.
Someone was watching her.
Her fingers twitched toward the knife under her pillow—
Golden eyes.
She
froze.
Lucas Bai was
sitting in the chair across the room, completely relaxed.
One leg crossed over the other, arms draped casually over the chair, his expression utterly
unbothered.
He smirked.
"Morning, Beauty."
Ava’s
pulse pounded.
"Why—are you watching me sleep?"
Lucas chuckled.
"You’re in my apartment. I like knowing what’s happening in my space."
Ava
scowled, sitting up.
"That doesn’t answer the question."
Lucas
tilted his head.
"I was thinking."
Ava ran a hand through her hair,
exhaling sharply.
"Thinking. While staring at me."
Lucas
grinned.
"You should take it as a compliment. I don’t waste time watching unimportant things."
Ava
narrowed her eyes.
"That’s not a compliment."
Lucas leaned forward slightly,
resting his elbows on his knees.
"
You’ve got a lot to do today.
" His golden eyes gleamed.
"So I figured I’d let you sleep in. Until now."
Ava
muttered a curse under her breath,
swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
"How generous."
Lucas
chuckled, tossing something her way.
She caught it out of reflex.
A protein bar.
"
Eat.
" Lucas leaned against the doorframe, golden eyes glinting. "
We have our auction prize to open.
"
Ava
sighed, tearing the wrapper open with her teeth.
"The mystery case?"
Lucas nodded.
"Time to see if we wasted our money."
Ava took
a slow bite, chewing as she reached for her bag.
"
You wasted your money.
"
Lucas walked
toward the table where the case sat waiting.
"
Well, hurry up. I’d like to know if I wasted my money before dinner.
"
Ava rolled her eyes, but she was already reaching for her bag.
She pulled out her
tools—precision-grade, high-efficiency, the kind of equipment people in this bunker would kill for.
A
high-grade multi-tool set.
An
Advanced Soldering Kit.
A
Micro-Welding Set.
Lucas glanced at the equipment, then at her.
"You always carry that around?"
Ava arched a brow.
"You don’t?"
Lucas smirked.
"Touché."
She stepped forward, brushing past him to
set up her workspace.
The case itself was
military-grade—heavy, reinforced, built to withstand impact.
Whoever had dumped it had expected it to
stay buried.
Ava ran her fingers over the
seam of the lock, her system flickering to life.
[SCANNING CONTAINER...]
[SECURITY MEASURES: ACTIVE]
[LOCK TYPE: BIOMETRIC + CODED FAILSAFE]
[OVERRIDE AVAILABLE]
Lucas
tilted his head.
"Well?"
Ava exhaled.
"Give me a minute. I need to bypass the failsafe."
Lucas
grinned.
"Take your time. I’ll be over here, counting how much money I’ll lose if you fry it."
Ava shot him a
flat look.
"Helpful."
He smirked,
but didn’t say anything else.
Ava rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
A few careful adjustments. A precise bypass. A flicker of light as her
system processed the override.
Then—the lock
clicked open.
Ava inhaled
slowly.
Lucas leaned in,
golden eyes sharp.
"Moment of truth, Beauty."
Ava exhaled.
And cracked the case open.
The
lid lifted with a soft hiss,
releasing air that had been sealed inside for who knew how long.
Ava
expected tech.
Maybe encrypted drives, maybe old schematics—
something valuable.
But the second she saw
what was inside,
her stomach
tightened.
Not tech.
Vials.
Rows of them,
perfectly preserved, cushioned in dense foam, different colors but all unnervingly pristine.
Beside them, a
sealed folder.
Thick, heavy,
untouched.
Lucas let out a
low whistle.
"Well, well, Beauty. Looks like we found something fun."
Ava’s
jaw locked.
"Bai, shut up."
Lucas didn’t.
Instead, he reached in, plucking a vial from its slot, rolling it between his fingers.
His
smirk faltered.
Ava caught it.
The slight shift in his posture, the way his usual ease sharpened into something colder.
"
You recognize this?
" she asked, voice even.
Lucas didn’t answer right away.
Which meant
yes.
Ava reached for the folder,
tearing the seal open.
Pages slid out,
dense with classified reports, test logs, numbers that didn’t make sense—until they did.
Her
blood went cold.
Lucas peered over her shoulder,
golden eyes scanning the pages.
Then—he
stilled.
His smirk was completely gone now.
Ava’s voice was barely above a whisper.
"Project Eden."
Lucas’s fingers
tightened slightly around the vial.
Ava look at him sharply,"
You’ve heard of it.
"
"Only in theories. Rumors. About experiments from bunkers that didn’t survive the first collapse."
Lucas
flipped to another page, scanning quickly.
Then—he clicked his tongue,
tossing the folder onto the table.
"
Well, Beauty. Looks like it wasn’t just rumors.
"
Ava
exhaled sharply, gripping the edge of the table.
This was
a disaster.
Lucas Bai wasn’t an idiot.
He knew exactly what kind of
game-changing, world-breaking leverage
they had just uncovered.
And that was why—
without hesitation—
He grabbed a handful of the vials.
Ava’s stomach
dropped.
"Bai.
No.
"
Lucas just
smirked,
rolling one between his fingers. The liquid inside shifted under the dim light—
dark red, almost alive.
"
Beauty,
" he murmured,
"why would I leave something this valuable behind?"
Ava’s pulse
jumped.
"Because it’s a
terrible
idea?"
Lucas ignored her, inspecting the vial with
genuine curiosity.
"Imagine what someone would pay for this."
Ava’s jaw
locked.
"That’s the problem."
Lucas met her gaze,
golden eyes gleaming.
"
Which is exactly why I’m keeping them.
"
Ava took a
slow, measured breath.
"You don’t even know what they do."
Lucas’s smirk widened.
"Then I guess we have some experimenting to do."
Ava swore under her breath.
Because she knew Lucas Bai.
And the second he decided something had value?
He wouldn’t just trade it.
He’d
use
it.
Ava had seen Lucas Bai do a lot of
reckless things.
But
this?
This was
insanity.
She watched in
horrified disbelief
as Lucas held up one of the vials, inspecting it like it was some
rare collector’s item
instead of a potentially
lethal biochemical experiment.
"
Bai,
" she hissed, stepping forward. "
Put it down.
"
Lucas
twirled the vial between his fingers.
"Relax, Beauty."
Ava gritted her teeth. "
No.
You do not get to tell me to relax when you’re about to—"
She cut herself off,
because Lucas was already uncorking the vial.
Oh, hell no.
Ava lunged, but
Lucas moved first.
He tipped the vial back—
and drank.
Ava swore.
"You absolute—"
Then
he staggered.
Ava was at his side
instantly.
"Bai!"
Lucas caught himself against the table,
golden eyes wide—pupils dilating, body trembling.
His breath
hitched.
His fingers
dug into the wood.
Ava grabbed his wrist,
scanning him immediately.
[SCANNING TARGET...]
[SYSTEM RESPONSE: UNKNOWN STIMULANT DETECTED]
[BIOLOGICAL STRESS LEVELS: RISING]
[NEURAL ACTIVITY: ACCELERATED]
Ava’s
blood ran cold.
Lucas’s breath
caught—
And then, suddenly, he
laughed.
Ava
froze.
Because when Lucas lifted his head, his
golden eyes weren’t just golden anymore.
They were
burning.
Like
molten metal.
Like
something waking up inside him.
Lucas exhaled slowly,
flexing his fingers.
Then—he
grinned.
"
Oh,
" he murmured,
voice like silk.
"That’s interesting."
Ava’s
mind raced.
Lucas was still
standing.
No—
more than standing.
He looked
fine.
Too fine.
His breathing had already
steadied,
his
golden eyes still glowing with something unnatural.
His hand—
where his fingers had clenched too hard against the table—had left faint cracks in the wood.
And when he
lifted his arm and dragged a knife across his palm—
His wound
healed instantly.
Not just
fast.
Instant.
Ava’s stomach
dropped.
"
That’s not normal,
" she murmured.
Lucas examined his hand with
mild curiosity,
then turned to her and smirked.
"Beauty, I don’t think I’ve ever been normal."
Ava
ignored the way her pulse jumped.
"Do that again."
Lucas arched a brow.
"What, cut myself?"
"Yes."
Lucas
chuckled but obliged,
slicing his palm again—a
clean, deep cut.
Ava
watched closely.
Within
seconds,
the skin
stitched back together.
This wasn’t
Shifter regeneration.
It wasn’t
Mutant healing.
This was
something else entirely.
Something
impossible.
Ava’s
Blueprint System flared, running automatic diagnostics.
[SCANNING BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE...]
[ACCELERATED CELLULAR REPAIR]
[HEALING RATE: ANOMALOUS]
[FOREIGN COMPOUND DETECTED IN BLOODSTREAM]
Ava’s
breath caught.
Lucas’s
system was changing.
And now—
he was watching her.
Reading her.
Then, without a word,
Lucas took an empty vial, sliced his palm one last time, and let his blood drip into it.
Ava
stared.
Lucas held the vial up,
swirling the deep red liquid, eyes gleaming.
"
You’re next, Beauty.
"
Ava’s fingers
twitched.
"I didn’t agree to this."
Lucas
smirked.
"
And yet, you haven’t walked away.
"
Ava
hated that he was right.
Because her
Blueprint System was already analyzing the vial.
[SCANNING COMPOUND...]
[FOREIGN STIMULANT DETECTED]
[EFFECTS: ENHANCED SYSTEM PROCESSING, REGENERATION BOOST]
[WARNING: TRACEABLE SIGNATURE PRESENT]
[TRACKING MARKER DETECTED – SOURCE: LUCAS BAI]
Ava’s
stomach twisted.
Tracking.
Lucas’s
blood was now part of the compound.
Which meant
if she took it—he’d be able to track her.
She
exhaled sharply.
"You knew about this."
Lucas tilted his head.
"I suspected."
Ava
clenched her jaw.
"Bai, this is—"
Lucas stepped closer,
voice smooth. Dangerous.
"
You wanted to know what it does, Beauty?
" His
golden eyes gleamed.
"
Then drink.
"
Ava’s
pulse pounded.
Because she knew.
The second she took this—
things wouldn’t be the same.
But that had
never stopped her before.
Ava grabbed the vial.
And
drank.