LOGIN"It's not a bluff," I said.My voice was flat, steady, and loud enough to slice clean through the biting wind. I looked directly into Lucien's devastated, bloodshot eyes, refusing to soften the blow."I can't keep lying to myself, and I can't keep lying to you. Every day since I saw him again, I tell myself nothing will happen. I tell myself I'll get over it, that the past is dead and I'll move on. But I can't."I took a slow breath, letting the icy air sting my throat."I like Freddy so much that if he dies, I might die as well."The silence that followed was suffocating.The statement hit both of them like a high-caliber round tearing through unarmored flesh. Lucien physically recoiled half an inch, the sheer shock draining the rage from his broad face, leaving him pale under his sweat and grime. Beside him, Daniel’s cynical smirk didn't just fade—his mouth fell slightly open, his dark eyes wide and hollow, struck completely mute by words so raw and absurdly intense they had no def
"You wanna hate me? Hate me. But at least you'll be here to hate me. I won't complain."The raw, jagged terror in Daniel's voice left me completely hollowed out.I stared into his dark, bloodshot eyes, seeing the ugly, unvarnished truth stripped of all his usual mocking swagger. I hadn't realized it ran this deep. To me, they were ruthless warlords, men forged of iron and gunmetal who conquered this wasteland with cold pragmatism. But beneath the lethal armor, their possessiveness wasn't just territorial pride—it was a frantic, desperate sickness born from the terror of losing me. Call it love if you may, but believe me, it’s not that simple.And that meant Daniel wasn't bluffing.If I didn't crush this fantasy of ‘stealing’ right now, it would happen again. Next time, it wouldn't be a broken arm in a dark storage bay. Daniel or Lucien would put a bullet through Freddy's skull and accept whatever punishment I dished out, convinced they were burning a bridge to keep me tied to them.I
The clinic door hissed shut behind me, severing the warmth of Freddy’s presence and plunging me back into the chilled, echoing silence of the lower corridors.My boots hit the concrete in a steady, hollow rhythm. Every step felt heavier than the last, weighed down by the raw ache in my chest and the lingering static humming behind my eyes. I didn't head back to the command tier. I couldn't stomach the thought of walking into that ruined suite, looking at the pulverized concrete Lucien had shattered, or smelling the bourbon on Daniel’s breath. If I saw either of them right now, the fury coiled in my ribs would tear through whatever fragile peace was holding this fortress together.Instead, I took the winding service stairs up toward the eastern parapet—a deserted stretch of the outer curtain wall where the wind blew harsh and clean from the wasteland.The night air hit my face like ice water, stinging my cheeks and whipping loose strands of hair across my eyes. Below, the valley
The bitterness in his voice hung heavy in the small, white-walled room, cutting through the sterile hum of the medical bay. Freddy looked so defeated, staring down at his uninjured knuckles as if ashamed that his flesh hadn't turned to iron like the men who ruled this fortress.But he was overthinking it. Those men… the apocalypse did not change them. They were just born different.I didn't think about protocol. I didn't think about the guards stationed down the hall, or the lingering threat of Lucien and Daniel pacing like caged animals two levels up.I closed the distance between us, reached out, and pulled Freddy into a firm, grounding hug.He stiffened in shock for a fraction of a second, his breath hitching in his chest, before his arms came up around my back, holding onto me with that same careful, reverent gentleness he had always carried."You're not that weak, Freddy," I murmured, my voice muffled slightly against the worn fabric of his denim jacket. "Physical violence i
When I pushed through the swinging double doors of the recovery ward, the golden glow of the Healer’s residual mana was just fading from the room. The healer was nowhere to be found, given she must've left, but Freddy was sitting upright on the edge of an examination cot, rotating his right arm in slow, deliberate circles. The fiberglass cast was lying in pieces on the linoleum floor, completely discarded."Wow," Freddy breathed, flexing his fingers with a look of pure, boyish amazement. "My arm feels completely good as new. Not even a throb."He looked up toward the doorway, the bright wonder on his face dying the moment he caught sight of me.The cold, rigid scowl stamped onto my features wasn't something I bothered to wipe away. The tension coiled in my shoulders was tight enough to snap steel wire, and the faint silver residue of temporal static still flickered faintly in my dark eyes.Freddy lowered his arm, his expression instantly shifting from relief to heavy, suffocat
"You think you own me?!"The words tore out of my throat, sharp enough to cut through the heavy stench of sweat and bourbon in the room. I closed the remaining inches between Daniel and me, slamming my palm flat against his chest with enough force to make his combat boots drag against the concrete floor."What did I tell you at the start? I don't belong to anyone. I belong to myself. We fuck, sure. We share feelings, sure, but at the end of the day I'm my own person and I can take on any man I want—whether it's a ghost from my past or two guys who find it a hell of a fun time blowing the heads off zombies."Daniel’s pupils flared with pure, manic fury, his jaw tightening until the bone nearly cracked beneath the skin. "So are you saying you're going to take him in?""I never said I would," I spat back, refusing to give an inch of ground. "But who knows? After you just showed me how much of an arrogant, insecure bastard you are, I just might do it to spite you.""Amber, you can't







