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The second Jenna chokes out, “Donovan’s dead,” the air changes.

Everything inside me locks up. My heart stutters. My lungs forget how to breathe.

No.

No, no, no.

I don’t even remember moving. But suddenly, I’m standing in the kitchen doorway—Hudson at my side, both of us frozen. And I see it.

The blood first.

It coats the white tile in thick, dark rivers. It’s everywhere . The metallic scent hits me like a punch to the gut.

My stomach lurches.

Then I see Donovan.

He’s lying on his back, sprawled like a rag doll. Eyes wide. Unblinking. Mouth still open in a silent scream that never came.

His chest is torn open. Not messy. Not wild.

Precise.

Too precise.

The only small mercy. He probably didn’t feel it.

I stumble back, hitting the counter behind me.

This is my fault. The thought slams into me like a freight train. My monster did this. It had to be him. It’s always him.

My hands shake violently. My vision tunnels. I taste panic on the back of my tongue.

Fuck. I can’t fall apart. Not now. Not with ? —

“Silver,” Hudson breathes. “What the hell did this?”

He moves, putting himself between me and the danger, his body solid and unyielding. Protective. Human. Unaware of how far over his head this really is.

Jenna is crumpled in the corner, sobbing and shaking. Blood coats her hands—she must’ve touched him. Tried to help.

You can’t help the dead.

The thought makes something cold slither down my spine.

I try to speak, but I can’t. Because suddenly, I feel it.

The bakery is too quiet. Not shock-quiet. Not grief-quiet.

Predator-quiet.

The kind of silence that waits. Watches.

The shadows don’t move. Not yet.

But he’s here . I know it.

The pressure builds behind my eyes, beneath my skin. It’s not a sound, but I hear it anyway—a whisper that skims the inside of my skull like a knife.

My sweet, foolish Snow Pea… Did you think I would wait forever?

A shiver wracks my spine and I bite down on my lip, hard enough to draw blood. It grounds me. Keeps me upright. He let me see this. He wanted me to see this.

Jenna is mumbling now—shaking her head, eyes locked on Donovan’s ruined chest. “No, no, no… this isn’t real. He’s not—he had just walked in. He was just talking to me—he can’t?—”

Her voice cuts off. She jerks suddenly, her whole body snapping stiff like she’s been yanked upright by invisible wires.

My head whips toward her.

“No,” I whisper.

Something moves in the air. It’s not visible. Not fully. But I see it— feel it . A ripple, a distortion. Darkness curling tight around her throat.

“Jenna?” Hudson steps forward, already reaching out.

Snap.

The sound is small. Final.

Jenna’s body crumples like a marionette with its strings cut and she collapses to the ground. Lifeless. The blood from her nose and mouth spreads too fast, staining the floor, mixing with Donovan’s.

The silence afterward is worse.

Not stillness. Not shock. It’s the kind of silence that waits to take.

And I feel it.

A rush of ice-cold air tears through me like a ripple in the bond—sharp and suffocating. My monster is feeding. Devouring the fear. The death. The chaos.

A tremor rips up my spine.

And I scream.

It tears out of me—wordless, ragged. Too late.

First Donovan.

Now Jenna.

And next?—

Me.

The moment the air splits open, I feel it—like skin tearing from bone. My knees buckle. The floor tilts beneath me. The overhead lights flicker violently, buzzing and pulsing like they’re fighting to stay alive.

Once. Twice. Then they begin to fail.

One by one.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Each one closer than the last.

The shadows crawl across the walls, elongating, twisting. They shouldn’t be able to move like this. There’s still too much light.

But none of that matters anymore.

Because my monster isn’t just shadows.

He’s hunger. He’s desire. He’s death made flesh.

And he’s finally come to collect.

Hudson shouts my name—but I already know it’s too late.

Something slams into me—fast and unrelenting . Like a storm. Like a fist. Like him .

My breath leaves me in a rush. The world tilts.

And then?—

The bakery disappears.

The light vanishes.

And I fall into the dark.