Ava did not stop running until her lungs burned.
Branches whipped past her as she pushed through the park, her breath coming in sharp bursts, her heartbeat pounding wildly in her ears. She didn’t know what she was running from anymore—only that the urgency in Kael’s voice had ignited something instinctive inside her.
Run.
So she did.
She didn’t look back.
Didn’t slow down.
Didn’t question how her body moved faster than it ever had before, weaving through trees and uneven ground with unnatural precision.
Only when the park lights came back into view did she finally stagger to a stop.
Ava bent forward, bracing her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, but even as she struggled to steady herself, a strange realization crept in.
She wasn’t as exhausted as she should have been.
If anything, her body still thrummed with energy.
With awareness.
With something dangerously close to anticipation.
Ava straightened slowly.
Her mind raced, replaying everything that had just happened.
The hunt.
The deer.
Him.
Kael Draven.
The way he had looked at her.
The way he had said that word.
Mine.
Ava’s breath hitched.
A faint warmth spread through her chest at the memory, unwelcome and confusing. She pressed a hand against her sternum as if she could physically suppress it.
“No,” she muttered. “No, absolutely not.”
She didn’t belong to anyone.
She refused to.
And yet…
Her fingers curled slightly as the memory of his touch flickered through her mind. The brief contact had sent a jolt through her, sharp and electric, leaving behind something that still lingered under her skin.
It wasn’t normal.
None of this was normal.
Ava turned toward the street, determined to get as far away from the park—and him—as possible.
She had barely taken two steps when something shifted.
The air.
It changed.
Subtly, but unmistakably.
Ava froze.
Her senses sharpened instantly, every instinct snapping into place. The night seemed to hold its breath, the quiet pressing in around her in a way that felt wrong.
She wasn’t alone.
A slow, deliberate sound came from behind her.
A footstep.
Heavy.
Measured.
Ava turned.
Three figures stepped out from the shadows at the edge of the park.
Her pulse spiked.
They were men—or at least they looked like men—but something about them felt off. Their movements were too controlled, their presence too heavy, like the very air bent around them.
Predators.
The realization came without thought.
One of them tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over her with unsettling focus. “Well,” he said, his voice low and amused. “Looks like we found her.”
Ava’s stomach dropped.
Found her?
Her instincts screamed at her to move, but she forced herself to stand her ground. Running now would only confirm whatever they were thinking.
“I think you’ve got the wrong person,” she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible.
Another one stepped forward, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. “No,” he said. “We don’t.”
Ava’s mind raced.
They knew.
Or at least they knew something.
Her body tensed, every muscle ready to react.
“Come with us,” the first one said casually, as if he were inviting her to a friendly conversation instead of cornering her in the middle of the night.
“Yeah,” Ava replied dryly. “That’s not happening.”
The smirk on his face widened.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
The moment the words left his mouth, everything changed.
He moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Ava barely had time to react before instinct took over. She twisted to the side, his hand missing her by inches as she darted back. Her heart slammed against her ribs, adrenaline flooding her system.
What the hell—
The second man lunged.
Ava ducked, her body moving on pure reflex, and shoved him back with more force than she thought possible. He stumbled, surprise flashing across his face.
For a split second, they all paused.
Ava included.
Because that—
That shouldn’t have happened.
She stared at her hands, her breath coming fast.
Then the third man laughed.
“Interesting,” he said, his eyes gleaming with something dangerous. “She’s already changing.”
Ava’s blood ran cold.
Changing.
The word echoed in her mind, tying itself to everything she had experienced since last night.
Before she could respond, the first man moved again—faster this time, more aggressive.
Ava braced herself.
But he never reached her.
A blur of motion cut through the space between them.
A crack of impact followed, sharp and brutal, and the man was suddenly gone—thrown back several feet as if he weighed nothing at all.
Ava’s breath caught.
She didn’t need to turn to know who it was.
The air itself shifted with his presence.
Heavy.
Dominant.
Unmistakable.
Kael.
He stepped forward slowly, placing himself between her and the three men without even glancing in her direction. His posture was relaxed, but there was nothing casual about the way he held himself.
It was the stillness of a predator seconds before it struck.
“You shouldn’t be here,” one of the men said, his voice tight.
Kael’s lips curved slightly, though there was no warmth in the expression. “And yet,” he replied, his tone low and dangerous, “I am.”
His gaze flicked over them briefly, assessing, dismissing.
Then it hardened.
“You came for something that belongs to me.”
Ava’s heart skipped.
There it was again.
That word.
That claim.
Her body reacted instantly, heat flaring under her skin despite the tension in the air.
The men noticed.
Their expressions shifted.
Understanding.
Interest.
Greed.
“Well,” one of them said slowly, “that makes things more complicated.”
Kael didn’t respond.
He didn’t need to.
The threat was already there, woven into the way he stood, the way the night seemed to bend around him.
Ava swallowed hard, her gaze fixed on his back.
She should have been afraid.
Of him.
Of them.
Of everything happening around her.
But instead—
She felt something else.
Something dangerous.
Something that pulled her toward him just as strongly as it warned her to stay away.
And for the first time since all of this began, Ava realized one thing with absolute clarity.
There was no going back.
