The door slammed behind Kai, but it wasn't the noise that echoed it was the silence afterward. A dead, hollow kind of silence that made Adrian feel like the penthouse itself was holding its breath.
He hadn't chased him.
He didn't trust himself to.
Adrian sat on the edge of their bed no, his bed now and stared at the rumpled sheets that still smelled like Kai. Lust, love, sweat, and something unspoken. Something broken.
His phone buzzed again.
Lucien: The boy's emotions are a liability. You're slipping, Adrian.
Adrian crushed the phone in his hand. Literally. The screen shattered like glass, sparks jumping as the circuits died in his fist. But the words still screamed in his head.
You're slipping.
He knew.
Because Kai hadn't even looked back.
Kai didn't go far. He couldn't. Not when his heart was still lodged somewhere in Adrian's chest. But he needed the space. He needed the cold. The clean. Something that wasn't cloaked in Adrian's scent, Adrian's touch, Adrian's lies.
He ended up in the greenhouse of the tower, barefoot and shaking. The flowers were blooming, glowing faintly from the runes Adrian had etched into the soil months ago. Wards. For protection.
Liar, Kai thought bitterly.
He sank to the floor, arms wrapped around himself, and tried not to fall apart. He'd seen the name. He'd seen the messages. Lucien. The one who'd touched him once with cruel intent. The one Adrian swore was dead.
Adrian had lied to his face.
And now, all that fragile peace they'd built felt like glass under his bare feet cutting, unforgiving.
"I should've run when I had the chance," Kai whispered to the flowers.
But he hadn't.
He'd fallen for the wolf with a crown of ash and fangs for promises.
He was still falling.
Back in the penthouse, Adrian stood at the broken window, the cool wind scraping against his skin like punishment.
He had made a vow to keep Kai safe. A vow soaked in blood and bound by instinct. But this wasn't just about safety anymore. It was about trust.
And he'd shattered it.
Lucien had reappeared two days ago, a ghost cloaked in shadow, smug and unkillable. He wanted leverage. And he wanted Kai.
"Come near him," Adrian whispered into the dark, "and I'll show you what a godless vampire looks like when he burns."
But even as he said it, his stomach twisted.
Because the real enemy wasn't Lucien.
It was the space growing between him and Kai. Quiet, cruel, and widening.