LOGINWhat Answers BackRissa’s POVThe line in the sky should not exist.I feel it before I fully see it.A thin fracture. Silver. Alive.It hums.Not like the altar.Not like the first tear.This one is quieter.Worse.Because it is listening.My chest tightens as the power in me locks onto it, drawn to it like breath to lungs. I try to pull back, to shut it down, to undo what I just did.It does not respond.It deepens.“Rissa.”Mark’s voice cuts through everything.Sharp.Grounding.I turn toward him, but the moment I shift my focus, the pressure spikes. The connection pulls harder, like something on the other side noticed me looking away.I gasp.“I cannot stop it,” I say.“You can,” he replies instantly. “You just did not expect it.”That would be easier.If it felt like mine.It does not.The fragment still stands a few feet away, watching me with that same quiet awareness. It does not move. It does not interfere.It waits.Like it knows what comes next.The Hunters do not wait.The
The Price that costs too much Rissa’s POVThe silence does not last.It never does.For one fragile moment, the world feels still. The street lies broken beneath us, dust settling slowly through the air, drifting like ash after a fire. My body sags against Mark, every muscle weak, every breath heavy.I can feel his arms around me. Solid. Steady. Real.Alive.That should be enough.It is not.Because beneath the quiet, something lingers.Not outside.Inside me.A slow pulse spreads from my chest outward, faint but unmistakable. It does not hurt. It does not burn.It waits.I swallow hard and lift my head slightly, scanning the ruined street.The tear is gone.The shadows are gone.The thing is gone.But the absence feels wrong.Like something stepped out of the room and left the door unlocked.Mark’s hand tightens slightly at my back. “Do not move yet.”“I am fine,” I whisper.It is not true.He knows it.But he lets it pass for now.Josh steps closer, his movements slower than before
What I Refuse to LoseMark’s POVI see the moment she decides.It is small.Almost nothing.Just a shift in her eyes.But I feel it like a shock through my chest.“Rissa…” I warn.Too late.The air around us tightens.Not violently.Not like before.This is different.Controlled.Focused.Her power does not explode outward.It pulls inward.Everything bends toward her.The crack in the ground pulses once.Hard.Then again.The creature’s gaze sharpens.“You have chosen,” it says.Rissa does not look at it.She looks at the Door.“I am ending this,” she says.My chest tightens.There is something in her voice I d
Rissa’s POV The moment my blood hits the ground, everything listens. Not the Hunters. Not Mark. Something else. Something deeper. The shadows stop moving, but they are not gone. They are waiting. Waiting for me. My heart is racing, but it does not feel like fear. It feels like recognition. Like something on the other side of that Door just became aware of me. Of us. “Rissa.” Mark’s voice cuts through the noise. Close. Steady. Real. He steps in front of me, his body shielding mine, his presence grounding against the pressure building in the air. But I can still feel it. The pull. Stronger now. Not wild like before. Focused. Calling. My fingers press against the cut on my shoulder. Warm blood slips between them, but the pain feels distant. It does not matter. Because something else is louder. Something is trying to come through. The air shifts. Not outward this time. Inward. Toward me. The shadows begin to move again, sliding across the ground like black water
What I ProtectMark’s POVEverything goes wrong at once.The shadows spill across the ground like something alive. Not smoke. Not mist. They move with intent. They stretch, rise, and twist into shapes that should not exist.Rissa stands at the center of it.Power pours out of her.I feel it in my bones. I feel it in the way the air bends around her, like the world itself is struggling to hold its shape.“Rissa,” I call.She does not answer.Her eyes are not on me. They are fixed somewhere beyond this street, beyond this moment. Like she is seeing something I cannot.The Door is open.And I do not know how to close it.The first shadow lunges.I meet it head-on. My claws tear through its form, but it does not bleed. It breaks apart for a second, then pulls itself back together like it was never damaged.Not flesh.Not alive.Something else.“Focus on the source,” one of the Hunters shouts behind me.I turn just in time to see one of them raising that same device again. The one that tor
Broken Rissa’s POVThe thing that steps out of the warehouse is wrong.At first my mind tries to make sense of it. To fit it into something familiar. A wolf. A man. A hybrid of both.But it does not belong to any of those.Its body is too long, too stretched, like something pulled past its natural limits. Limbs bend at angles that should not hold weight, yet it moves without struggle. Its skin is pale, almost gray, and thin enough that I can see something shifting beneath it. Not blood. Not muscle.Movement.Like shadows trapped under flesh.It drags one clawed foot across the concrete as it steps into the light. The sound is slow. Deliberate. Like it knows we are watching.Like it wants us to see it.My breath comes shallow.“What is that?” I whisper.Mark does not answer.He steps forward instead, placing himself between me and the creature.His entire body has changed.Not fully shifted, but close enough.His shoulders broaden. His stance lowers. The faint silver glow in his eyes
Lucan's POVFireflies of the nightThe city never slept, but it sure as hell forgot.That’s what I told myself every time I walked these streets, head down, coat collar high, pretending to belong. Steel towers. Glass storefronts. Concrete soaked with old stories no one cared to remember. The pulse
Not All QuietRissa’s POVThe next morning, I woke to the sound of voices.Not shouting. Not panic. Just voices that sounded like disarray. I took off the blanket, my skin still warm from where Mark had slept beside me. The balcony door was closed now. He was gone.I changed into a black cardigan a
Shadows That RestRissa’s POVI woke to silence.Not the kind that creeps in before disaster but the rare, unfamiliar quiet that follows survival. It was soft, almost sacred. No howls in the distance, no explosions in the air. Just calm. Peaceful.For the first time in what felt like forever, I was
Burning From Within Rissa’s POV I didn’t stop walking until I reached the edge of the estate grounds, past the sparring fields and the cold stone walls that had begun to feel more like a cage than a sanctuary. My hands were still shaking. Not from exhaustion. Not from pain. From what I felt







