After the last ward settled into place, the apartment felt different. Safer. Heavier. Like the air itself was standing guard.

  Lysandra stepped back, satisfied. “This will hold through the night. Call us if anything feels wrong.”

  Elara nodded. “And call us in the morning. Before you leave.”

  Selene added, “We will accompany you throughout the day.”

  I blinked. “Throughout the day.”

  “Yes,” Selene said. “You are being hunted.”

  Elara smiled gently. “We will be discreet.”

  I looked between them. “You two are the least discreet people I know.”

  Selene tilted her head. “Thank you.”

  “That was not a compliment.”

  Elara laughed softly, then reached into her pocket and handed me a small slip of paper. “My number. Call me before you step outside.”

  Selene pulled out her phone and held it toward me. “Input yours.”

  I typed it in, and she sent me a message immediately. My phone buzzed.

  Selene: If you do not call, I will assume you are dead.

  I stared at the screen. “That is… comforting.”

  “It is accurate,” she said.

  Lysandra gave me a final nod. “Rest. Tomorrow will be demanding.”

  And with that, they left, the door clicking shut behind them. The apartment fell quiet again, the wards humming faintly like distant thunder.

  Tae?in hopped onto the counter, staring at me with her usual judgmental intensity.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I know. Long day.”

  She meowed once, demanding food. I fed her, then sat cross?legged on the floor, letting my breath settle. The familiar pull of my soul?space opened beneath me, and I slipped into it with practiced ease.

  The space was calmer now. Brighter. The reservoir pulsed steadily, like a heartbeat syncing with my own. I sat there for a long time, letting the tension drain out of me, letting the fear settle into something sharper. Something like resolve.

  When I finally crawled into bed, Tae?in curled against my side, purring softly. Sleep came quickly.

  Morning arrived too soon.

  I woke to Tae?in kneading my ribs like she was trying to restart my heart. After feeding her and getting dressed, I grabbed my phone and stared at the two new contacts.

  Elara.

  Selene.

  I sighed and hit call.

  Elara answered on the first ring. “Good morning, Jae.”

  Selene’s voice cut in immediately. “We are outside.”

  I blinked. “Already.”

  “Yes,” Selene said. “You took too long.”

  I opened the door to find them standing there like a mismatched honor guard. Elara smiled warmly. Selene looked as if she were evaluating the hallway for threats.

  “Ready,” Elara asked.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  We walked to Amir’s together. The moment we stepped inside, Amir looked up from behind the counter, eyes widening.

  “Bro,” he said, leaning forward. “You have to tell me your secret.”

  I blinked. “What secret?”

  He gestured dramatically at Elara and Selene. “This. All of this. How. Teach me.”

  Elara giggled. Selene looked confused. “Teach him what?”

  “Exactly,” Amir said. “Exactly.”

  I groaned. “Please stop,”

  Amir smirked. “Never.”

  After grabbing my usual, we headed to campus. Elara and Selene kept a respectful distance, but it still felt like walking with two supermodels who could kill a man with a thought.

  Which, to be fair, they could.

  They followed me all the way to my morning lecture hall, lingering near the back as if evaluating every student for potential threats. I tried not to think about how weird that looked. Or how many people were staring.

  Class dragged on, mostly because I kept glancing at the door every time someone walked by. Elara and Selene waited outside the entire time, and I could feel their presence like a pressure in the air, steady and protective.

  When the lecture finally ended, I stepped into the hallway and found them standing exactly where I left them. Elara smiled warmly. Selene scanned the crowd like she was preparing to eliminate half of it.

  “Ready,” Elara asked.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  We headed toward the dining hall, and that was when Marcus and Talia spotted me.

  “Jae,” Marcus called out. “My man. My guy. My legend.”

  Talia elbowed him. “Stop being weird.”

  Marcus ignored her. “So. Introduce us.”

  I swallowed. “Right. Uh. Marcus, Talia, this is Elara and Selene. They’re… friends.”

  Selene stepped forward. “I am dating Jae.”

  I nearly choked on my own spit. “Selene.”

  Marcus’s eyes widened. “Wait. Aren’t you dating Kaida?”

  My soul left my body.

  Elara covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Talia raised an eyebrow. Marcus looked like he was watching the greatest drama of his life unfold.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I scrambled. “No. No one is dating anyone. Selene is joking. She does that. Sometimes. Rarely. Actually never. But today she is.”

  Selene blinked. “I am not joking.”

  “Selene,” I hissed. “Please.”

  Marcus leaned in. “Bro. Teach me.”

  I wanted to die.

  Elara finally stepped in, placing a gentle hand on my arm. “We are here for a project,” she said smoothly. “A long?term study. Jae is helping us.”

  Talia nodded slowly. “That makes more sense.”

  Marcus looked disappointed. “I liked the other explanation better.”

  I groaned. “Please stop talking.”

  Selene looked at me, confused. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “So much.”

  Elara smiled at me, warm and amused. “You will get used to her.”

  I doubted that very much.

  But as we walked toward the dining hall, surrounded by my friends and two women who could level a building, I realized something.

  My life was never going to be normal again.

  And maybe that was okay.

  Lunch with Marcus and Talia was supposed to be normal.

  It wasn’t.

  We grabbed our trays and found a table near the windows. The dining hall buzzed with noise, the usual mix of stressed students, clattering dishes, and the faint smell of burnt fries. Elara and Selene sat with us, trying to blend in. They failed spectacularly.

  Elara looked around with bright curiosity, taking in every detail like the dining hall was some kind of cultural exhibit. “It is so lively,” she said. “Everyone seems so free.”

  Selene frowned at a nearby table where two guys were arguing loudly about a video game.

  “Their awareness is nonexistent. They would die instantly in a real confrontation.”

  Marcus snorted. “Welcome to college.”

  Talia leaned forward, studying Elara. “So what kind of project are you two doing with Jae.”

  Elara smiled, warm and disarming. “A long?term observational study. Cultural immersion.

  Behavioral analysis. We are learning about the human experience.”

  Marcus blinked. “Like… anthropology.”

  “Yes,” Elara said. “Exactly.”

  Selene nodded. “We are observing Jae’s daily patterns.”

  Marcus grinned. “So you’re studying him.”

  Selene nodded again. “Closely.”

  I choked on my drink. “Selene.”

  “What,” she asked. “It is true.”

  Talia raised an eyebrow. “Studying him how.”

  Selene answered without hesitation. “His habits. His routines. His physical conditioning. His sleep patterns. His scent.”

  I froze. “Selene.”

  Marcus’s eyes lit up. “Bro. Teach me.”

  Talia smacked him. “Stop.”

  Elara stepped in quickly, her voice smooth as silk. “Selene means his presence. His energy. It is part of the study.”

  Selene nodded. “Yes. His energy.”

  Marcus leaned back. “Still sounds like a dating thing.”

  Selene opened her mouth, probably to say something catastrophic, but Elara gently touched her arm. Selene closed her mouth.

  Thank God.

  We finished eating and stepped outside into the bright afternoon sun. Students lounged on the grass, tossed frisbees, and studied under trees. It was peaceful. Normal.

  Then I saw her.

  My breath caught.

  I hadn’t seen her since that night. The night I stumbled into four men surrounding her in that alley, harassing her, closing in like they thought she was prey. I remembered the way she moved, the way she exploded into action the moment my shout distracted them. She tore through two of them with brutal efficiency, and I jumped in on instinct, taking the last two before they could flank her.

  They were strong. Too strong for normal men. Tough enough that I had to use mana with my strikes for the first time in an actual fight just to put them down. My fists hit harder than they ever had, and the shock of that moment still lingered in my bones.

  She thanked me afterward, breathless but steady, told me to leave before more showed up, and vanished into the shadows before I could even ask her name.

  And now she was here.

  On campus.

  Reading a file.

  Elara followed my gaze. “Jae… do you know her?”

  I swallowed. “I’ve… seen her before.”

  Selene narrowed her eyes. “That is an orc. Bloodsong lineage. She is strong.”

  Marcus blinked. “Who are you talking about?”

  Talia followed his gaze, then frowned. “I don’t see anything weird.”

  Of course, they didn’t.

  To them, the glamour surrounding her made her look like a beautiful, dark-skinned African American woman with a bodybuilder’s physique. No tusks. No green skin. No orcish features. Just a striking woman eating lunch in the sun.

  Marcus squinted harder. “Wait… do you know her, too, Jae?”

  My pulse jumped. “Uh… yeah. Sort of. She’s from my MMA gym.”

  It wasn’t the best lie, but it was the fastest one I had.

  Marcus nodded slowly, impressed. “Bro. You know everybody.”

  Talia rolled her eyes. “He knows one person, Marcus.”

  Elara stepped forward with a bright, warm smile that was way too smooth to be accidental.

  “Marcus, you mentioned your biomechanics professor earlier. I wanted to ask you something about that. It sounded fascinating.”

  Marcus lit up instantly. “Oh, absolutely. So, this guy—”

  Talia sighed but followed as Elara guided them a few steps away, pulling their attention with effortless charm.

  Selene touched my elbow. “We should speak with her.”

  I nodded, pulse quickening. “Yeah.”

  We broke away from the group and walked toward the table where the woman from the alley sat. She didn’t look up at first, still flipping through the manila file with that same sharp, predatory focus.

  Then her eyes lifted. Then her eyes lifted.

  Recognition flashed across her face.

  Not surprise.

  Not confusion.

  Recognition.

  She closed the file slowly, set her sandwich down, and straightened in her seat. Even sitting, she radiated strength. Presence. Authority.

  Her gaze locked onto mine.

  “You,” she said.

  Her voice was low. Steady. Familiar.

  Selene shifted beside me, ready for anything.

  I swallowed. “Yeah. Me.”

  The woman from the alley, the orc beneath the glamour, nodded once, like she had been expecting this moment.

  “Good,” she said. “We need to talk.”

  Her eyes stayed locked on mine as she closed the manila file and set it aside. Up close, the glamour flickered faintly at the edges, as a thin veil stretched over something far stronger.

  Her voice was low and steady, exactly as I remembered it.

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. Small world, I guess.”

  She studied me for a moment, then gave a short, respectful incline of her head. “I never thanked you properly. For the alley.”

  I shrugged. “You already did.”

  “Not enough,” she said. “Those men were tougher than they looked. You handled yourself well.”

  I felt my face warm. “I just… helped. You did most of the work.”

  Her tusks flashed in something like a smile. “You took down two of them. That is nothing.”

  Selene shifted beside me, watching her with the wary intensity of a dragon sizing up another predator. She noticed but didn’t comment.

  “My name is Grakka, Grakka Bloodsong,” she said

  “Nice to finally meet you, Grakka,” Jae replied, holding his hand for her to shake.

  She took it. Jae could feel her power coursing through her just from the handshake.

  I cleared my throat. “Those guys… they didn’t feel like Manari. But they weren’t normal either. What were they?”

  Grakka’s expression darkened. “Aberrant Manari.”

  The words hit harder than I expected.

  She continued. “Mundanes who were turned into Manari through artificial means. Forced ascension. Their bodies were unstable, but strong enough to be dangerous.”

  I felt a chill crawl up my spine. “Who would do that?”

  “Ashcroft Biotech,” she said. “Or more specifically, the people running things behind the scenes.”

  Selene’s eyes narrowed. “GeneForge Syndicate.”

  Grakka nodded. “That is my guess.”

  I looked at the manila file. “Why were they after you?”

  She leaned back slightly, her voice dropping lower. “My mundane job is private detective work. Missing people, mostly. A family hired me to find their daughter. She disappeared two weeks ago.”

  I frowned. “But you said they were careful. They only took people with no connections.”

  “They were,” Grakka said. “Until her.”

  She tapped the file. “Her family was not on public record. Off?grid. Private. They thought she had no one. They were wrong.”

  I felt my stomach tighten. “And you tracked her to Ashcroft Biotech.”

  “Yes,” she said. “I got close enough to see things I should not have. Their security found me before I could learn the purpose of the experiments.”

  Her jaw clenched. “They chased me out. Those four men were part of the pursuit.”

  I swallowed. “So, they were trying to kill you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “And they will try again.”

  Selene stepped forward slightly, her posture protective. “Why are you here now?”

  Grakka looked at me.

  Grakka looked at me, her expression tightening. “Because Ashcroft’s attention has shifted.”

  A cold weight settled in my stomach. “Shifted how?”

  “They found out someone powerful has put a bounty on you,” she said. “A quiet one. Off?record. The kind that only circulates in the hidden world.”

  My pulse spiked. “A bounty. On me.”

  Grakka nodded. “Ashcroft wants to know why. They do not like unknown variables. So they started digging into your background.”

  I felt my throat tighten. “And what did they find?”

  “That you are an orphan,” she said plainly. “No parents. No extended family on record. No one would raise questions if you disappeared.”

  Selene’s eyes darkened. “Perfect for experimentation.”

  Grakka tapped the manila file. “Exactly. To them, you are an ideal candidate. Young. Healthy. Physically trained. No public ties. No one to come looking.”

  I swallowed hard. “So, they want me for the same reason they took that girl.”

  “Yes,” Grakka said. “They believe you can be taken without consequence. And they want to know why someone else wants you dead.”

  She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping. “Ashcroft’s security is already looking for you. They are trying to get to you before whoever placed the bounty does.”

  A chill ran through me.

  Selene stepped closer, her voice low and dangerous. “Who placed the bounty?”

  Grakka shook her head. “I do not know. The bounty is anonymous. But the price is high. Very high.”

  I felt the weight of her words settle over me like a storm cloud.

  A bounty.

  Ashcroft is hunting me.

  Experiments.

  Aberrant Manari.

  And now Grakka, sitting here with a file full of secrets, is telling me I was next on their list.

  Selene’s voice cut through the tension. “We need to move somewhere private. Now.”

  Grakka nodded. “Agreed.”

  And just like that, my world tilted again.

  Grakka’s revelation hung in the air like a storm cloud. Selene shifted beside me, ready to move, ready to fight. My pulse hammered in my ears.

  I swallowed hard. “Grakka… before we go any further, I need to tell you something.”

  Her eyes narrowed slightly. “What?”

  “Elara is in the know,” I said quietly. “She knows about Aetherveil. She’s part of it. But my other friends aren’t. Marcus and Talia can’t know any of this.”

  Grakka grunted. “Understood. Mundanes should not be dragged into this.”

  “Good,” I said. “Because we need to go to Elara. And I know a place where we can talk safely.”

  Selene nodded. “Lysandra’s shop.”

  Grakka’s brows lifted. “You have access to a safehouse.”

  “Something like that,” I said.

  We walked back toward Elara, who was still expertly distracting Marcus and Talia with a conversation about biomechanics that she absolutely did not understand but pretended to with Oscar?worthy commitment.

  “Elara,” I said softly.

  She turned immediately, reading the urgency in my face. “We should go.”

  Marcus blinked. “Already?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ve got something to take care of.”

  Talia gave me a suspicious look. “Is this about your ‘project?”

  “Something like that,” I said.

  Marcus grinned. “Bro, you’re living a double life.”

  I forced a laugh. “You have no idea.”

  We said our goodbyes, and Elara smoothly guided us away before Marcus could ask anything else. The moment we were out of earshot, Grakka let out a low whistle.

  “You walk among mundanes like this every day,” she said. “Bold.”

  “Reckless,” Selene corrected.

  “Necessary,” I muttered.

  The walk to Lysandra’s tea shop was tense. Grakka kept scanning the streets, her glamour flickering faintly whenever she grew irritated. Selene walked beside me like a silent guardian.

  Elara stayed close, her presence warm but alert.

  When we reached the shop, Grakka stopped dead in her tracks.

  She stared at the sign.

  Then at the door.

  Then at me.

  “You brought me,” she said slowly, “to Mistress Lysandra’s domain.”

  I blinked. “You know her.”

  “Everyone knows her,” Grakka said. “She is one of the most respected Elders in the city. And one of the most dangerous.”

  Selene smirked. “You have no idea.”

  Grakka shot her a look. “I have some idea.”

  We stepped inside. The familiar scent of tea and old wood washed over me. Lysandra stood behind the counter, arranging jars with her usual calm precision. She looked up the moment we entered.

  Her eyes flicked from me, to Elara, to Selene… and then landed on Grakka.

  Her expression didn’t change, but the air shifted.

  “Bloodsong,” Lysandra said.

  Grakka bowed her head respectfully. “Mistress Lysandra.”

  Lysandra’s gaze slid to me. “Jae. Explain.”

  I took a breath and told her everything.

  The alley.

  The fight.

  The Aberrant Manari.

  The missing girl.

  Ashcroft Biotech.

  The bounty.

  The fact that Ashcroft was now looking into me.

  Lysandra listened without interrupting, her expression unreadable.

  When I finished, Grakka stepped forward and retold her side with crisp, professional clarity. Who she was. Why she was hired. How she tracked the missing girl. How Ashcroft’s security discovered her. How she barely escaped. How the trail went cold.

  “And now,” Grakka finished, “Ashcroft is hunting him. They want to know why someone else wants him dead. And they want him for their experiments.”

  Silence settled over the shop.

  Lysandra exhaled slowly. “This is worse than I feared.”

  Elara’s voice was soft. “Jae… this is not just a threat. This is a convergence.”

  Selene’s hand drifted toward her sword. “We need to act.”

  Lysandra nodded. “We will.”

  Then she looked at me.

  “Jae,” she said, “your life is no longer in danger by accident. You are being targeted from multiple directions.”

  My stomach twisted.

  Grakka crossed her arms. “Which means we need to work together.”

  Lysandra’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Yes. We do.”

  And just like that, the room shifted.

  Lines were drawn.

  Alliances formed.

  And my world grew even more complicated.