In the Shadows of the Night

The city never slept, but tonight… it watched silently.

Aira ran.

Her feet slammed against cracked pavement, bare soles tearing on glass and gravel. Each breath was a knife in her ribs. The taste of copper flooded her mouth—she’d bitten her lip raw. Shadows lunged at her from every direction, the alley swallowing her whole.

*Faster. Faster.*

Behind her, laughter. Deep, guttural. *Close.*

“Little bird,” a voice crooned. “We’ll clip your wings soon.”

Her pulse roared in her ears. She skidded around a corner—

Dead end.

A concrete wall loomed, slick with rain and graffiti. *No. No no no—*

She spun just as they emerged from the darkness. Three men. Grins sharp as broken bottles.

“Nowhere left to run, huh?” The tallest one cracked his knuckles.

Aira pressed against the wall, arms wrapped around herself. Her knees trembled, but she lifted her chin. “What do you want?”

“You.” A leer. “Alive… mostly.”

One reached for her. She slapped his hand away—

*Crack.*

A gunshot split the air.

The man dropped. Blood pooled beneath his skull, his grin still etched in place.

Silence.

Then—two more shots. Two more bodies.

Aira didn’t scream. She couldn’t. Her lungs had turned to ice.

A fourth figure stepped over the corpses.

*Him.*

Black coat. Black gloves. A face carved from marble and menace. The streetlight caught the edge of his jaw, the scar beneath his eye, the way his gaze pinned her like a butterfly to corkboard.

“Run,” he said—not to her. To the last thug.

The man fled.

The stranger holstered his gun and turned to Aira. Up close, he was taller. Broader. His scent—sandalwood and gunmetal—wrapped around her throat.

“You’re bleeding,” he said.

She was. A gash on her cheek, a wrist purpling with fingerprints. She hadn’t even noticed.

He reached into his coat. A handkerchief. Snow-white silk.

When he dabbed her cheek, his glove came away scarlet. His jaw tightened.

“Who—” Her voice shattered.

“Names are irrelevant.” His thumb brushed her chin, tilting it toward the light. Assessing. “You’re shaking.”

She was. Violently.

His coat settled around her shoulders before she realized he’d moved. *Warm.*

“Two choices,” he murmured. “Come with me. Or wait for the next pack of wolves.”

Aira’s fingers clutched the coat. It smelled like him. Like danger.

A black SUV slid to the curb, silent as a panther.

She should’ve run.

She didn’t.

---

**Inside the car**, leather seats cold against her skin, Aira counted her breaths to stay sane.

Ruhan (though she didn’t know his name yet) didn’t speak. Just watched the city blur past, his profile sharp enough to draw blood.

Then—

“You’re cold.”

A flick of his wrist. The AC died.

Aira stiffened as his gaze dropped to her bare feet, the bruises on her ankles. Something dark flashed in his eyes.

“Who sent them after you?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

A lie. Or the truth? She couldn’t tell anymore.

He leaned closer. Close enough that his breath ghosted over her lips. “Try again.”

The car hit a pothole. She swayed—

His hand caught her waist. Steel fingers. A touch that burned through fabric.

Aira’s heart stuttered.

*This man isn’t salvation.*

*He’s the storm.*

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***