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“Hear him out?” I hissed, incredulous. “He’s been watching us, Annika. That doesn’t exactly inspire trust.”

“I know,” she said, her gaze flicking to Kael, studying him with the kind of openness that made me want to lock her away, safe from the world’s treachery. “But if he meant us harm, wouldn’t he have attacked already?”

Logic. Damn her logic.

I exhaled, a sharp, irritated sound, and turned back to Kael. “If you so much as look at her wrong—”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Kael interrupted, his tone maddeningly casual. “Shall we move this conversation somewhere less... exposed?” His eyes flicked to the forest, where the remains of shifters lay in grotesque stillness.

Annika squeezed my arm, and though every instinct screamed to leave this man in the dirt, I relented.

For her. Always for her.

“Follow me,” I bit out, stalking toward the cottage with Annika close behind. Kael’s footsteps were too light, too measured, a predator’s grace that set my nerves on edge.

When we reached the cottage, the door creaked open, the familiar scent of pine and aged wood greeting us. Inside, I gestured for Kael to sit, but remained standing, my stance purposefully threatening.

“Nice place you got here,” he said, looking around.

I didn’t need to look around to know that.

The cottage was small but sturdy, a place built to endure. Like us. The walls were dark, made of rough-hewn logs that stillsmelled faintly of pine. Shadows clung to the corners, thick and heavy, but Annika had softened them.

Her touch was everywhere. Worn blankets draped over the arm of the sofa. Candles scattered across every surface, their wax melted down in uneven rivers. Flowers, half-wilted but stubbornly clinging to life, sat in jars on the windowsills. She said they made the place feel less like a tomb. I didn’t argue.

My presence was harder. Weapons lined the walls—blades polished to a sharp gleam, stakes carved from ash, and a crossbow I never let out of reach. The scent of leather and smoke lingered near the shelves, where my books rested in uneven stacks. Dark histories. Ancient wars. Blood and ruin bound between cracked spines. Annika teased me about them, but I caught her reading when she thought I wasn’t looking.

The bed in the corner was ours. The sheets were soft, and in the last year or so, I could truly say that we actually slept. Finally.

Her sweater hung over the chair, frayed at the edges where she worried it with her fingers. Beside it, my jacket, stained with blood that wouldn’t come out.

It wasn’t a home, not in the way Annika deserved. But it was ours. Built with clawed hands and guarded with teeth bared. A sanctuary carved out of darkness.

“I like how it is still hidden from the world of humans,” he continued, pulling me back to the present moment. “Are you using magic still to keep the entry closed?”

I had no intention of answering that question.

The truth was that yes, we could all come and go as we pleased. We could. The townspeople. But we kept our existence still hidden from almost everyone: humans, shifters, other vampires. We still didn’t know how far the enemies web stretched. We had to be cautious. And that was why I couldn’t trust this stranger who appeared out of nowhere.

Annika sat on the edge of the worn sofa, her hands clasped in her lap, her curiosity a palpable force. “Who are you really?” she asked, her voice steady.

Kael’s gaze flicked between us, lingering on me as though testing the limits of my patience. “I’m here because the shifters are just the beginning,” he said finally. “What’s coming next makes them look like gnats.”

My eyes narrowed. “And you know this... how?”

Kael leaned back in the chair, too casual for my liking. The fire crackled in the hearth, throwing jagged shadows across the walls. His gaze flicked to Annika, then back to me. I didn’t like the way he looked at either of us.

“You’re stalling,” I said, arms crossed. The words came out sharp, edged with the threat I didn’t bother hiding. “Start talking, or I’ll bleed the truth out of you.”

Kael’s lips twitched. Almost a smile. “You don’t scare me, Lucas.”

So, he knew my name. Everyone here did. Only, he wasn’t from our town.

I was across the room before Annika could stop me. My fist hit the wall beside his head, splinters raining down. He didn’t flinch, but the flicker in his eyes told me he wasn’t as fearless as he pretended.

“Try me,” I said, voice low.

“Lucas,” Annika’s voice broke through, calm but firm. She rested a hand on my arm. It was soft, grounding. I hated how easily she calmed the storm in me.