The air on the balcony thickened, heavy with something colder than the bass thrumming below.

Adrian didn’t move, but Elena could feel the power radiating off him, the way his body shielded hers without touching. His jaw was tight, his fists curled, as his brother’s mocking smirk lingered in the dark.

Damien Blackthorne.

The name itself felt dangerous.

“I didn’t realize you’d taken up babysitting, Adrian,” Damien drawled, stepping closer. “She’s pretty, I’ll give you that. Fragile, though. The kind that breaks too easily in our world.”

Adrian’s voice dropped low, steel cutting through every syllable.

“Leave her out of this.”

Damien’s eyes glinted, shifting toward Elena. His gaze was a knife—sharp, assessing, lingering far too long.

“What’s your name, darling?”

Elena’s throat tightened, but before she could answer, Adrian stepped forward, his body a wall. “She isn’t yours to speak to.”

Something flickered in Damien’s eyes. Amusement. Challenge. A memory of years of rivalry resurfacing in an instant.

“Ah,” Damien said softly. “So she matters.”

The realization in his tone was a weapon, and Adrian’s shoulders stiffened.

Elena finally found her voice, forcing it past the knot of fear in her chest.

“Stop. I’m not—”

Damien cut her off, his smile curling. “Not his? Not anyone’s? Careful, love. My brother doesn’t take kindly to being denied.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs. He was toying with her, with them both, but beneath the smirk was something sharper—something calculated.

Adrian stepped forward, so close their shoulders nearly collided. “Touch her, even with your words, and I will end you.”

For a moment, the brothers simply stared at each other. Predator against predator, fire against ice.

Then Damien leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper only they could hear. “You’re slipping, Adrian. The moment you let yourself care, you’ve already lost.”

Elena’s stomach knotted.

Because beneath Damien’s cruelty, she knew he was right.

Adrian wasn’t just obsessed with her. He was vulnerable because of it.

And in their world, vulnerability was blood in the water.

Damien finally stepped back, his smirk never fading. “Enjoy your pet while she lasts. You know how this story ends.”

With that, he disappeared into the shadows, leaving the echo of his warning behind.

Elena pressed her back to the wall, her breath ragged. Adrian turned to her, his face carved from stone, but his eyes—those pale, haunted eyes—burned with a promise she didn’t know how to survive.

“I won’t let him touch you,” Adrian vowed. His voice was fierce, but under it, something softer trembled. Something he would never admit.

Fear.