The plates were cleared, the lights dimmed, and night settled over the house like a heavy shroud.
Outside, the wind whispered through the trees—
but inside, every sound felt wrong.
Kin lay in bed, curled against Vixen's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. It should have calmed him… but his eyes kept drifting toward the shadows pooling in the corners.
> I'm just imagining things, he told himself.
Then—
tap… tap… tap…
Somewhere beyond the wall.
Vixen's arm tightened around him instantly. He had heard it too.
---
They stayed silent.
The tapping stopped.
Then came another sound—
a slow, dragging scrape—
like fingernails crawling along the wall beside the bed.
Kin's skin prickled. His throat locked.
> "Stay here," Vixen whispered, his voice cold and sharp.
He slipped into the hallway.
The air out there was colder than it should have been—unnaturally so.
---
Suddenly—thud!
A door slammed somewhere deeper in the house.
Kin sat up when—
A voice.
Right beside his ear.
It was Shen Seizan's voice.
> "Kin… open the door…"
Kin froze. The bedroom entrance was half open—
but Vixen wasn't there.
The voice came again, slower, almost pleading.
> "Kin… it's me. Shen. Open the door… it's cold out here…"
---
The door began to creak open, though no hand touched it.
The air turned sharp and icy.
In the dim light of the hallway…
a figure stood.
Tall. Still.
The silhouette of a man.
But its head was tilted too far, its neck bending at an impossible angle.
And its eyes—glowing faintly, with something utterly inhuman lurking inside.
The mouth moved in a smile that was wrong in every possible way—
and Shen's voice slipped out again, soft and coaxing:
> "Kin… let me in…"
---
The moment before Kin could scream—
a sudden, crushing wave filled the room.
Warm. Dominant. Electric.
Vixen's alpha pheromones.
The air vibrated with invisible force, pushing against the shadow's form.
Kin gasped, the icy pressure shattering, his lungs filling again.
The figure twitched, smile faltering—
and then hissed in a warped, metallic sound as Vixen stepped into the doorway, eyes blazing.
> "You're not him," Vixen growled.
He unleashed more pheromones, a suffocating surge of protective dominance.
The intruder staggered, its form rippling like smoke in wind—
and with a final, ear-splitting shriek, it dissolved into the dark.
---
Vixen crossed to Kin, pulling him into a tight embrace.
> "As long as I'm breathing," he whispered, "nothing will touch you or our child."
But outside, just beyond the bedroom window—
something unseen still watched.
---
Continue...