The night wrapped the farm in silence as Evryn slipped through the gate.
She had changed into clothes that allowed movement, fabric soft but fitted, and wrapped her scarf around her neck against the chill…
and moved toward the neighboring Farm without looking back.
She had seen the flowers that morning.
Rare ones.
Black-petaled, growing wild against the ruined wall, thriving where no one cared enough to look.
Flowers like that were not meant to be ignored.
They were worth risk.
They carried beauty that demanded effort.
She had not dared take them in daylight.
Too many eyes.
Too many questions.
Night was safer.
She reached the wall and placed her hands into the old holes worn into the stone.
Her movements were practiced, careful.
She climbed quietly, breath controlled, heart steady.
On the other side, she did not look down.
She trusted the fall.
She pushed herself forward and let go.
The moment her feet left the wall, her stomach dropped.
Cold air rushed past her.
She braced for the impact, muscles tightening, preparing for pain.
It never came.
Arms closed around her mid-fall, solid and unyielding.
Her body slammed into a chest instead of the ground, momentum stolen in an instant.
Shock surged through her and instinct took over.
Auren had felt it before he finished his work.
The pain in his chest sharpened suddenly a Distance.
Movement.
Intent.
He knew the shapes of the pain now.
He straightened slowly, breath steady, then left the room.
He did not search blindly.
He followed the pull.
He saw her disappeared over the edge and didn’t hesitate.
He vaulted the wall silently and reached the other side just as she let herself fall.
Evryn struck out blindly, palms hitting fabric and muscle, pushing hard, fighting, trying to break free from what she thought was danger.
Her breath came fast, sharp, panicked.
“Stop,” a low voice said near her ear.
Her eyes flew open.
Auren.
He stood beneath the wall, holding her firmly, his black scarf pulled high, his eyes silver even in the dark.
The black scarf framed his face, made him look sharper, darker, more dangerous than she had ever seen him.
And still…
familiar.
Her hands froze mid-strike.
“Auren,” she breathed, shock flooding her features.
“I…I’m sorry.
I thought someone grabbed me.”
He lowered her slowly, carefully, making sure her feet were steady before releasing her.
She stepped back immediately, embarrassed heat rising to her cheeks.
“I didn’t mean to hit you,” she said quickly.
“I didn’t know it was you.”
He did not comment on the strike.
His attention was already elsewhere.
“What are you doing here?
I thought you need to sleep” he said.
She swallowed, then lifted her chin and gestured toward the deeper part of the Farm.
“Flowers,” she said.
“They grow here.
Rare ones.
I couldn’t leave them.”
She moved past him before he could object, explaining as she walked, voice soft but passionate.
She spoke of their scent, of how they could be dried and preserved, of how beauty like that deserved care even if no one else saw it.
“They’re worth the risk,” she said quietly.
Auren followed her, listening.
“You shouldn’t come out here alone at night,” he said, voice firm, almost sharp.
“You could’ve been hurt.”
She studied him then…really studied him…and smiled “You worry too much.”
His gaze softened despite himself.
“Someone has to.”
The words lingered between them.
She knelt by the flowers, eyes brightening despite the tension.
As she cut carefully, her blade slipped and a thorn bit into her finger.
She hissed softly.
“What happened?” he asked, already taking her hand, his fingers closing around her wrist with care rather than force.
Moonlight caught the thin line of blood where the thorn had bitten her finger.
It was nothing…barely a wound.
“It’s nothing,” Evryn said quickly.
“Just a thorn.”
She looked up at him, suddenly very aware of how close he was, of how sharp his features looked in the moonlight, of how focused his gaze was on her then she lifted her finger close to his lips. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“You said,” she murmured, testing him, “you would rather die than taste my blood.”
He did not look away.
“My apologies,” he said.
He took her hand and drew her finger into his mouth deliberate.
suck it slowly his gaze on her eyes, his reaction sent a shiver through her.
When he released her, he pressed a soft kiss to her fingertip.
Evryn’s heart hammered as heat rushed to her face.
surprise stealing her breath.
She had expected teasing.
Mockery.
Not this.
Had not prepared for it.
She could see the pure satisfaction gleaming in his eyes at her reaction.
He had done it completely on purpose, a deliberate provocation, and she was absolutely not going to let him enjoy the moment.
With a defiant tilt of her chin, she pulled her finger back from his grasp.
Instead of wiping it away or turning in embarrassment, she brought it directly to her own mouth.
She tasted the wet trace of his saliva he had left behind on her skin, her eyes never leaving his as she watched him closely, turning his own game right back on him.
This time, he was the one caught off guard.
A small, satisfied smile curved her mouth.
Auren’s breath deepened, a ragged sound that fractured the quiet air between them.
He moved closer with a predatory grace, his body shifting forward as if drawn by a pull he could no longer resist.
In his silver eyes, the usual calm mask was shattering, replaced by a rising storm of raw, unshielded hunger.
Auren fought for control, his jaw tight as he felt the unnatural heat of his own skin radiating against the cool evening air.
But the moment he saw it…her finger lingering on her lips, tracing the path where his saliva still glistened…the last of his restraint began to burn away.
The sight was a silent invitation he wasn’t meant to see, a small, unconscious gesture that sent a jolt of pure fire through his veins.
Every instinct he possessed, both royal and primal, screamed at him to close the remaining distance and crush her against him, to finally take the “little bird” into his arms and never let her go.
“You must not do that,” he warned, his voice dropping into a low.
He stepped closer still, until she was trapped between the cold stone and the sudden, radiating heat of him.
“Do not test me, little bird.
You have no idea what you are inviting.”.
Evryn felt it …the weight of him, the pull, the memory of their kiss flashing through her mind.
How hard it had been, the taste of his lips, how she had struggled to breathe when he finally pulled away.
Her throat tightened as she swallowed.
She realized suddenly this was a wrong move.
The wrong moment.
Auren broke the gaze first as something moved in the darkness.
He turned instantly, pulling her behind him, his body a shield.
.
Figures emerged from the darkness.
Wolves, eyes glowing More than one.
A man stood among them, face hidden beneath a cloak.
“Kill her,” the man ordered.
The words hit Auren like a blow.
For a brief moment, his mind went still, not from fear, but from disbelief.
They were not here for him.
They knew what he was, and they still chose her as the target.
That meant something worse than hatred.
It meant intention.
It meant planning.
Auren’s shock lasted only a breath.
In that breath, the bond in his chest flared so hard it felt like fire.
His body reacted faster than thought.
He pulled Evryn behind him sharply, his arm locking around her as if he could seal her into his ribs.
The cloaked man lifted his hand, and magic surged forward like a hook cutting through air.
Evryn’s body jerked violently as the force caught her waist and tried to rip her from Auren’s hold.
She gasped, fingers digging into his coat.
Auren’s arm locked around her instantly, muscles tightening with brutal strength.
The pull of the spell dragged at them both, tearing leaves from the ground.
Auren did not move.
He anchored himself into the earth as if his boots had roots.
“You will not touch her,” he said, and this time his voice was not calm.
It was command.
With his free hand, he seized the small blade still clenched in Evryn’s fingers and threw it without hesitation.
The blade cut through the air with deadly precision and struck the cloaked man directly at the throat.
The spell shattered mid-force.
The man fell backward without another word.
The wolves did not hesitate.
They lunged together.
Auren shifted his stance and lifted Evryn into his arms in one clean motion, turning his body so every strike would meet him first.
One wolf leaped for his shoulder.
Auren caught it mid-air, fingers sinking into thick fur, and hurled it into a tree hard enough to crack bark.
Another snapped at his leg.
He kicked forward sharply, sending the beast rolling across the ground.
But there were too many to fight while holding her.
Auren leapt back over the wall into the forest without slowing.
He ran until the ground opened into a clearing where he could move freely.
His thoughts moved fast.
They were many.
He could fight, but not while she stood beside him and she is their goal.
He stopped at a clearing and set her down
“I don’t even know them.”
“I’m here.
No one will touch you.” said calmly, cupping her cheek.
She nodded, trusting him without question.
He took her scarf off her neck and knelt “up” he said
She hesitates only a heartbeat and climbed onto his back without question.
He used his black scarf and her lighter one, knotting them together around her and himself, securing her tight.
He adjusted her legs around his waist, her arms around his shoulders.
“Hold me tight” he said.
“And don’t look.”
She pressed her face into the back of his neck, breathing in his scent, fear trembling through her.
She held him tighter than she realized she could.
The wolves reached the clearing in moments.
“Do you follow the king?” Auren asked coldly.
“No,” one answered.
“We broke our bond.”
“Then you will die,” Auren replied.
This time, Auren did not restrain himself.
The first wolf reached him, and he stepped forward instead of back, catching its jaw and twisting sharply.
Bone cracked under his grip and the body collapsed instantly.
Another came from the side; he seized it by the throat and slammed it into the ground with enough force to end it before it could rise again.
They were strong, but not enough.
Auren moved through them like shadow ending each attack in moments.
He did not waste motion.
His strength was clean and absolute.
Evryn felt every impact through his body.
The sudden stops.
The shifts.
The way he braced before striking.
She heard the brief, sharp sounds of struggle, then silence.
Too fast.
Too decisive.
The last wolf tried to retreat.
Auren crossed the distance in an instant, catching the wolf before it could escape into the trees.
He forced it to the ground with effortless strength, his grip unyielding.
“Who sent you?” Auren asked coldly.
The wolf bared its teeth but did not struggle.
“Just kill me,” it growled.
Auren studied him for a moment, unimpressed.
“You are too loyal,” he said calmly.
“As you wish.”
And with one decisive strike, he ended his life.
He stood still for a long moment, listening, making sure nothing else moved.
When he was certain, his hand reached back to her arm gently.
“It’s over,” he said quietly.
“You can lift your head.”
She moved slowly, loosening her grip just enough to look.
The clearing was silent, the only sound the distant, rhythmic chirping of crickets returning to their posts.
The bodies of the wolves were nothing more than dark shapes in the tall grass, neutralized by a force they never stood a chance against.
Auren worked with a focused intensity, his fingers steady as he untied the scarves binding her.
As soon as she was free, he lowered her gently to the solid earth.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice low and raspy.
He didn’t wait for an answer before pulling off his ruined, blood-stained shirt.
He used the clean side of the fabric to wipe the dark essence of the wolves from his hands, his muscles rippling under the moonlight.
He looked less like a servant and more like a primordial force of nature.
Evryn couldn’t speak.
Shock had locked her joints, her eyes wide as she looked at the carnage, then back at the man who had ended it so effortlessly.
Auren stepped into her space, his hand cupping her cheek.
His skin was warm, his touch firm but remarkably careful.
“Evryn.
Look at me.”
Their eyes met…silver clashing with the dark depth of her own.
The sheer power radiating from him was intoxicating, but the concern in his gaze was what finally broke the spell of her terror.
Her hands began to tremble, the adrenaline finally ebbing away to leave her hollow and cold.
Without a word, Auren reached out and pulled her into his bare chest.
He held her with a fierce, crushing grip, as if he could shield her from the very memory of the night.
He needed to feel the frantic rhythm of her heart smoothing out against his own; he needed the reassurance of her breath against his skin.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply.
The scent of her…sunlight, herbs, and life…grounded him, pulling him back from the edge of the dark, cold rage that usually consumed him after a fight.
Evryn didn’t pull away.
She didn’t think about Ray, or the farm, or the impossibility of who Auren really was.
She simply wrapped her arms around his waist, clinging to his solid, warm back.
She pressed her face into his chest, letting the steady thrum of his heartbeat drown out the echoes of the wolves’ snarls.
Auren rested his chin against the top of her head, closing his eyes.
The spell in his chest, usually a jagged needle of pain, had settled into a deep, resonant hum of completion.
She was here.
She was safe.
In the wreckage of the clearing, under the indifferent stars, nothing else in the world mattered.
He would have burned the entire forest to the ground just to keep this moment exactly as it was.