Aria's POV)
I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the blood, the rain, the golden flash in his eyes when he changed.
Lucian wasn't human — I'd already known that — but seeing it… feeling it… was different. It made everything real. The claws, the growl that shook the trees, the way he looked at me afterward, half-wild and half… something else.
I sat on the bed in the small guest room above the diner, staring at the faint scar on my wrist. It wasn't glowing anymore, but it still pulsed softly, like a heartbeat under my skin. His heartbeat.
I hated that thought.
I hated that it didn't scare me enough.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Aria," came Lucian's voice, low and quiet.
I froze. "Come in."
He stepped inside, shirt damp from the rain, a few cuts on his arm already half-healed. He didn't look at me right away — just closed the door behind him and leaned against it, like he wasn't sure what to say either.
"You shouldn't have run out there," he said finally. "Rogues don't stop at one."
"I couldn't just stay inside while you—"
"I can handle myself."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, clearly. You almost died saving me."
His eyes lifted to mine then — sharp, unreadable. "I didn't do it for you."
That stung more than it should've.
But before I could bite back, he added quietly, "I did it because if you die, I die too."
Silence.
Thick, heavy, electric.
"What does that even mean?" I asked.
He stepped closer. "That mark on your wrist — it's not random. It's a bond. A curse that ties your life to mine. I don't know how or why yet, but the moment you touched me, it sealed itself."
I swallowed hard. "So… I'm your responsibility now?"
He let out a humorless laugh. "More like my punishment."
My chest tightened, but something inside me refused to shrink back. "Then I guess we're both cursed," I said softly. "Because no matter how much I try to hate you, I can't."
His gaze dropped to my lips for a heartbeat — and that was all it took for my pulse to lose control.
Lucian moved before I could think — one step, then another, until I was backed against the dresser. His hand braced beside my head, his breath rough.
"You shouldn't say things like that," he murmured.
"Why?"
"Because I might believe you."
The air between us was burning. My body moved before logic could stop it — I tilted my head up, just slightly, enough that the space between us vanished.
(heated, lingering moment building toward intensity — [explicit content placeholder])
He pulled away first, jaw clenched, eyes dark. "This can't happen," he muttered.
"Then stop it," I whispered.
He didn't.
---
Hours later, the diner was silent again, but sleep was impossible. I kept replaying everything — the way his voice dropped when he said my name, the tension between wanting and warning.
Downstairs, I heard footsteps. Then a door slammed.
Curiosity pulled me to the window. I saw Lucian outside, shirtless, walking toward the woods. The moonlight caught the faint scars down his back — old wounds that never healed.
I wrapped a blanket around myself and followed quietly, barefoot through the grass.
The woods glowed faintly silver, the air colder, sharper. Lucian was standing near the edge of the trees, talking to someone I couldn't see. I crept closer until a deep, female voice broke through the wind.
"She's changing, Lucian. The mark has awakened her bloodline."
"Impossible," he said. "She's human."
"Not anymore."
My breath hitched, and a branch snapped under my foot. Lucian turned instantly — his eyes flashing gold in the dark.
"Aria," he called. "Don't move."
But it was too late. A pair of red eyes appeared behind me, and a cold hand grabbed
my arm.
"Found her," a raspy voice whispered.
Lucian's roar echoed through the night.