The night always feels different when you're the prey.
I've felt it for as long as I can remember—the way the shadows curl tighter around me, the way silence isn't empty but watching. Tonight, it's suffocating.
"Keep moving, Elysia," I mutter to myself as my boots sink into the wet earth. The woods are alive with whispers, the kind that scrape against your bones and remind you that you're never truly alone.
But that's the thing—I am alone.
Always have been.
Always will be.
Until tonight.
Because tonight, the monsters stop lurking in the dark. They come out.
Snap.
The sharp crack of a twig slices through the air. My pulse stumbles.
They're here.
I don't need to see them to know who they are. The Vale Hunters—Vampires bred for one purpose: track me down and bring me to their King. Or kill me if I resist.
I resist.
I always resist.
"Bloodbound girl," a voice croons from somewhere to my left. Velvet and venom. "Running doesn't suit you."
I spin, fingers curling into fists, but it's pointless. There's no weapon in my grasp, no magic I can call upon. Just raw defiance and the curse tattooed on my wrist.
"You think cornering me in the woods makes you brave?" I say, voice sharp but brittle. "Pathetic."
A chuckle slithers through the trees.
Then he steps out.
Lucian Vale.
The Vampire King.
He's more myth than man, a nightmare parents whisper to children, hoping fear will keep them safe. But fear doesn't stop him. Nothing does.
"Found you." His words are soft, but they slice deeper than any blade. His obsidian hair gleams under the moonlight, his midnight eyes pinning me in place like I'm some fragile, trembling thing.
I hate how beautiful he is. Hate how my heart responds to it.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," I snap, lifting my chin.
A smirk curves his lips, dangerous and cruel. "Who said you had a choice, little Bloodbound?"
That's when I feel it. The air shifts—electric, suffocating.
Suddenly, a growl rips through the silence. A blur of motion slams into Lucian, knocking him back into a tree with enough force to splinter wood.
And standing between us is Kael Fenrir.
The rogue Alpha. The Wolf with nothing left to lose.
His silver eyes lock onto mine. "You don't touch what's mine, Vale."
Lucian's laughter is dark, unhurried. He rises, brushing off his suit like the attack was an inconvenience. "Yours? She doesn't even know who she is, Wolf."
"I know enough," Kael snarls, his body vibrating with barely controlled rage. His proximity is dangerous, intoxicating. I can feel the wildness pouring off him, a promise of protection wrapped in primal fury.
But I don't need protection.
"I'm not a prize to fight over," I hiss.
Both of them freeze.
Kael's gaze softens, but his jaw clenches. Lucian… he just watches, like a predator studying prey that's beginning to bare its fangs.
"You're right," Lucian murmurs, stepping forward. "You're not a prize. You're the throne. The crown. The power we've all bled for."
He stops just inches from me. His cold hand brushes my cheek, and I flinch, but not out of fear. Out of the war waging inside me.
Because a part of me wants to let him.
And I hate that part.
"You can't hide anymore, Elysia," Lucian says, his breath cold against my skin. "The Bloodbound isn't a myth. It's you. And whether you like it or not, this war—"
"—ends when I say it does," I cut him off, stepping back. "I'm not yours. I'm not his. I'm mine."
Kael's smirk is feral. Lucian's expression sharpens, darkening into something lethal and intrigued.
Good.
Let them come.
Let them chase.
Because I'm done running.
---
End of Chapter One