Page 10

ELIAS

I knew coming back to the Lower Wards was a goddamn mistake.

The air’s thicker here, tainted with sweat, smoke, and bad decisions.

Magic hums under every cracked brick and shadow.

I keep my hood low, boots moving fast through the alleys of Old Dockside, past rusted sigils painted over with street tags, broken wards humming like dying fireflies.

I should’ve stayed at the safehouse.

Should’ve ignored the summon.

But when you’ve got ghosts whispering your name through blood-soaked walls, you show up. Even if every cell in your body’s screaming not to.

Especially when that ghost is him .

Ty. The leader of Typhon’s Brood itself.

I round a corner and find the door already cracked open. No one guards it, but I feel the eyes. Watching from the dark. Always.

I step inside.

It’s a former church turned sanctum—crumbling stained glass, pews replaced with steel crates, weapons stacked against an altar where saints used to watch. The irony’s not lost on me.

Ty leans against the dais like he owns the place. Bastard always did love theatrics. He’s tall, wiry, all angular muscle and vicious grin, black eyes rimmed with red like he hasn’t slept since the last full moon. Which he probably hasn’t.

“Look who finally decided to crawl outta his hole,” he drawls. “Missed you, Vorn.”

“Cut the shit, Ty.”

He grins wider. “Still charming as ever. You’re late.”

“You’re lucky I came at all.”

That gets a laugh from the shadows.

Of course he’s not alone.

Two shifters lean against a pillar to my left—scarred, twitchy, half-shifted claws visible even at rest. A witch with blood-slick fingers and smudged eyeliner lounges by the window, watching me like she’s already got my bones mapped out for a hex.

And in the center of them all—Ty.

Leader of the Brood.

Rogue alpha. Vampire-cursed. Fae-blooded. A walking powder keg of broken bloodlines, and the only son of a bitch more hunted than I am.

He spreads his arms. “Come on, Elias. We’re family. Sit. Drink. Plot the future.”

“I’m not here to plot anything,” I say flatly. “I came because you called. That’s it.”

He tsks. “Still Switzerland. Still neutral. Still pretending the world’s not about to split open.”

“Because I’m not playing that game,” I snap. “You think I’m going to pick a side in this war when both sides want me dead?”

“You don’t have to pick a side,” he says. “You are the side. You’re the bridge, man. The prophecy .”

I let out a laugh that sounds more like a growl.

“That prophecy’s gotten more people killed than saved. You think leading your little rebellion’s gonna change anything?”

He steps forward.

“No one else will, Elias. No one else can . You’ve seen the Order.

You’ve seen the Council. They’re both rotting from the inside out.

The Veil’s falling. The humans are sharpening stakes.

The elders are getting desperate. And us?

We’re sitting here playing scavenger while the fucking world crumbles. ”

“Then maybe it should crumble,” I mutter. “Maybe that’s the only way it’ll rebuild right.”

He stops. Eyes narrow.

“That girl,” he says quietly. “The one from the crypt. She’s changed you.”

I clench my jaw. “How do you know anything about that?”

He laughs sharply. “There’s not a whole lot that happens around here, especially in our world, that I don’t know about. You should know that more than most.”

Before I can say anything, the humor in his eyes are gone. He steps closer, voice low and lethal. “We can’t afford that change.”

I don’t answer.

Because fuck him, he’s right.

Kaia has changed me. And it scares the shit out of me.

Not just because of what she is or whatever the hell that turns out to be—but because I feel her in my blood. I feel her rage, her fear, her hunger for answers. And for once, I want to give someone something instead of taking.

“I’m not leading your fucking army,” I say finally. “You want a war, start it yourself.”

The room goes quiet.

Even the witch stops twirling her blade.

Ty’s smile drops. “That’s disappointing.”

He turns his back to me, walks to the altar, rests his hands on it like he’s praying to a god that long since abandoned this place.

“I offered you a crown,” he says softly. “I offered you a home.”

“I don’t want either.”

He turns. The fury’s back. Cold. Coiled.

“You think you can outrun this? You think hiding behind alleyways and crypt doors is going to stop the world from burning?”

“I don’t care if it burns,” I say. “I care who gets torched with it.”

His jaw clenches. “You walk out that door, Elias, you’re on your own. No protection. No sanctuary. No more neutral ground.”

“I’ve never had sanctuary,” I growl. “So nothing new there.”

I turn to go.

His voice chases after me. “You’re still going to be hunted. But now? You’re going to be hunted alone .”

I don’t look back.

Because I already am.