She didn't trust me.
Smart girl.
She was curled up on the far end of the couch, arms crossed like a barrier, eyes fixed on the corner window.
The blackout curtain filtered moonlight into soft shadows across her face.
Though she was tired, she didn't let her guard down. Not completely.
But her pulse was slowing.
Her power was too, I could feel it.
That low hum in the room, the undercurrent of her aura, used to buzz like an exposed wire but now it throbbed like a wound packed in ice.
I leaned against the kitchen doorway, arms folded, trying not to look at her too long.
She noticed anyway. "What?"
"You should sleep."
"Don't tell me what to do."
There it was, the fire again.
Even exhausted, she didn't let anyone have the last word especially not me.
"I'm not your babysitter," I said evenly. "But you'll think clearer if you stop running in your head."
She scoffed, but her voice cracked. "Running's the only thing keeping me alive."
"Not tonight."
She glanced at me then.
That look again — not soft, not hostile, but searching.
Trying to find the man behind the monster, well good luck with that.
"You always talk like you're two seconds from killing something," she murmured.
I raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I am."
"And I'm sleeping in the same room as you?"
"You're safe."
"Really?"
"I'd be an idiot to hurt the one thing the Council's scared of."
I think that got her.
Because her lips parted slightly, and she started catching her breath the breath, then she turned her face away again.
I didn't like how small she looked then.
I didn't like that I noticed.
I stepped back into the kitchen and grabbed the folded blanket off the top shelf and dropped it beside her without a word.
She blinked at it. "Is this… wolf hospitality?"
"Don't flatter yourself. You're shivering."
"Even though am shivering, i am just being honest the vibe in here is psychotic."
I snorted because I couldn't help it.
And she smirked, barely.
Progress.
She didn't thank me. Of course not.
Just pulled the blanket over her and curled her legs up under her, gaze softening.
She looked young like that. Tired and breakable.
And I hated how badly I wanted to be close to her and it was not for the mission, not for the war, but something more human.
Something dangerously close to real.
I shook it off.
The scar near my ribs twinged, a reminder that Thorne wouldn't wait long to send someone else.
I'd defied orders. That wasn't just insubordination, that was betrayal and betrayal has blood prices.
I checked the wards again, just to be sure.
Outside, the forest breathed against the edge of the city, that eerie, half-wild border where the trees remembered what the world forgot.
The enchantments would hold for the night. But tomorrow? No promises.
When I came back into the room, Evelyn was half-asleep. Not fully gone, but blinking slower now, lips slightly parted.
She was holding herself tight, even under the blanket, the posture of someone who didn't know rest.
"Zayn," she said softly, not looking at me.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you hesitate, right there?"
I didn't move.
"Where?" I asked.
"In the alley. You had your hand around my throat and you were close enough. So why didn't you?"
I stared at her.
Because your voice trembled, not from fear, but fury.
Because you looked at me like you knew me.
Because the way your power cracked the air reminded me of something I'd buried a long time ago.
Because killing you felt like breaking something sacred.
But I said none of that.
"Because they lied to me," I said instead. "They said you were a threat. A weapon."
She looked at me again, a full gaze this time. "And I'm not?"
I paused.
"I think… they were scared you'd figure out what you really are before they could control it."
Her breath caught.
The silence between us twisted — not awkward, but alive.
I could feel the distance between us shrinking by the second. Not physically. Something worse.
"I don't know what I am," she whispered.
"That makes two of us."
She blinked and for once, there was no sass and no shield.
Just her.
"I miss my sister," she said after a long time. "Neera. She left when I was a kid. Said it wasn't safe. I thought she died. But now…"
"She didn't." I replied.
I hadn't meant to say it.
Evelyn's eyes sharpened. "What do you mean?"
I met her gaze. "I saw her once I think it was last month. In the Valley of Ash. She was watching a Council exchange. It was hidden, but definitely alive."
Her hand clenched around the blanket. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I wasn't sure you'd survive long enough to care."
Silence again and it was heavy this time.
But she didn't lash out, didn't accuse.
She just nodded, almost imperceptibly.
"You're a bastard," she said quietly.
"I've been called worse."
She nearly laughed.
Finally, she let her body soften.
Let the weight of the last few days pull her under.
"Zayn," she murmured again, eyes half-closed.
"Yeah?"
"If I lose control again… if I start to shift into whatever they're afraid of…"
I waited.
"Kill me before they get the chance."
I didn't speak. Didn't even move.
But in my chest, something cracked wide open.
"No," I answered.
She didn't argue. Just let her eyes close, lashes brushing her cheek.
And I sat there in the quiet, in the dark with the weight of her trust pressing down on me like a vow I hadn't agreed to, but already knew I'd die to keep.
Well hope that's enough for today. Now go to bed.