Midnight Meeting

Lucian:

The moon hovered above Ashwyck Academy like a cold eye, its pale light cutting through the mist curling along the stone paths. I moved silently, predatory, my boots whispering against the wet cobblestones. The night carried its usual scents—damp earth, ivy, lingering incense from classrooms—but beneath it, beneath the ordinary, there was something else.

Her.

Isadora Gravelle. Sweet, intoxicating, something ancient hidden in the hum of her blood. And it wasn’t just her blood—it was the chaos that clung to her, the way she dragged the Royals into her orbit, the way she made men like Rhett, Kai, and even that infuriating shadow Silas react as though she were the sun itself. But we all know what happens when you fly too close to the sun, don't we?

I should have been above it. Detached. Calm. Arrogant. I should have been the one standing over them all, unshaken, untouchable. But the moment her pulse thrummed faintly across the academy grounds, I felt that old edge—bloodlust sharpening, patience cracking, hunger rising.

And I was drunk. Not on wine, though I had finished three glasses of ruby-red vintage in the cellar for courage. Not for the warmth or the ritual. Drunk on the need to dominate, to mark, to control. To remind everyone she belonged in my hands—at least until I decided otherwise.

A sound to my left—the low growl of a wolf. I knew it before I saw it. Rhett. Always Rhett. The starved predator, the one who had no concept of restraint, his heat radiating even in the chill of the night. He’d been out hunting, and I could smell the scent of his kill mingled with the storm of desire he carried for her. For her.

I smiled. Bitter. Hungry. There was only so much room on this chessboard of chaos, and the pieces were moving far too quickly. I could feel the tension, the pull in the air, the way the mist seemed to thicken around her, pulsing even when she wasn’t near me.

And then a lighter scent, tainted with faint ink and the crisp tang of parchment: Kai. That little trickster had been prowling the library, trying to untangle her mysteries, probing where he shouldn’t. Always curious. Always cocky. Always far too clever for his own good. He needed control as much as I did. But she didn’t belong to him—not truly. He wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand.

And the darkness shifted again. There. Silas. Silent. Shadow incarnate. Watching. Waiting. A wall of ice, barely moving, his attention locked on her presence as though he’d felt it first, as though he alone could contain her without touching her, without claiming her outright.

I clenched my fists, tasting the irony, the delicious chaos. All of them. Drawn to her. And for the first time in centuries, I wasn’t sure who deserved her—or if anyone did at all.

I stepped into the courtyard proper, my coat brushing against the wet leaves scattered on the ground. I let my presence announce itself slowly, deliberately. A shadow among shadows, letting the smell of my bloodlust linger, letting the pulse of my hunger ripple through the chilled air.

“Of course,” I murmured, a low hiss that carried across the courtyard. “All in one place.”

And then they appeared in fragments. Rhett’s massive frame rounding the far side, shoulders broad, muscles taut, claws still faintly bloodied from his hunt. Kai leaning against the column near the fountain, eyes flicking to the shadows, impatient, fidgeting. Silas—ever silent, ever still—slid into the courtyard like a ghost, presence ice-cold and deliberate.

And I moved, gliding toward the center, letting them feel the slow, poisonous heat of my attention.

“Such a quaint gathering,” I said finally, voice silk and venom. “The lover. The stalker. The little trickster trying desperately to keep up. And me?” I tilted my head, golden eyes glinting. “I am the chaos you’ve all failed to see coming.”

Rhett snarled low, the growl vibrating the stones beneath our feet. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh?” I drawled, stepping closer. My shadow stretched toward him, curling at the edges. “You think this courtyard is yours? That you own it?”

“I am protecting her,” he growled. “From fools like you.”

I laughed, dry and sharp. “Protect? You? You’re barely able to control yourself when she’s near. You, the wolf, feral and… starved. And yet you think you are her savior?”

Rhett’s eyes darkened, hot and threatening. His claws twitched. I could smell the tension, the threat radiating from him. The heat of him was enough to make my fangs itch, my veins hum with a wild craving I hadn’t felt in decades.

Kai’s smirk twisted, trying too hard to mask the tension in his shoulders. “Lucian,” he said, voice clipped, fingers drumming against the stone, “what’s your point? She’s not yours. She’s not anyone’s. Calm your theatrics.”

“Calm?” I echoed, letting the word drip like acid. “Do you think I could be calm when she is here, breathing, taunting, bending all of you to her will?”

Silas shifted slightly, silent, a pillar of frost against the madness. I caught his eyes on mine, narrowed, calculating. He wasn’t speaking. He didn’t need to. The coldness radiating from him was as sharp as my knife-edged hunger. And yet… he wasn’t moving forward, wasn’t trying to claim her. He was waiting. Always waiting.

I let my gaze fall to the reflection of her tower window in the fountain. She was there. I can see the faint flicker of candlelight. She hadn’t even noticed me yet, lost in some private moment, flicking her hand through the mist of her own thoughts. Vulnerable, delicate, tempting. I could feel her pulse through the mist, hear the soft echo of her heart beneath the cloak of the night. My teeth ached. My fangs longed for the taste. My entire being craved the chaos she radiated.

“You all think yourselves her protectors, her lovers, her saviors,” I hissed, stepping closer to the center, making the stone floor hum with the intensity of my presence. “And yet, she doesn’t need any of you. She never did. She will survive, even if you destroy each other in the process.”

Rhett stepped forward, massive and menacing. “Step aside, Lucian. She’s not a game. Not for you.”

I smiled, venom curling through my lips. “Oh, I’m not here to play. I’m here to remind all of you of the rules of engagement. She is a liability. A temptation. Not a prize. She shouldn't be touched, claimed. Not by you. Not him.” My eyes flicked toward Silas, gold against silver-gray. “Not even you. It will cause too much chaos among us.”

Kai’s hands twitched as he pressed against the stone. He wanted to intervene. He wanted to assert control. I could see it. The trickster struggling with himself, trying to maintain the façade of calm.

“She is under our roof, we can decide among ourselves, thank you,” he said finally, voice sharp, almost accusing. “Your theatrics end here, Lucian.”

“Do you think I care?” I breathed. “Do you think I ever cared? I am here because she pulled the teeth from all of you without even trying,” I gestured at them all, “you are all… insufficient.”

Rhett growled again, closer now, the heat from him a living thing in the courtyard. Silas remained the same, chilling and patient, his gaze locked on her. Kai’s chest rose and fell rapidly.

I leaned forward, letting my shadow stretch across the courtyard, brushing against her feet, swirling with the mist. “She is temptation. She is chaos. And every one of you,” I whispered, letting venom curl in my voice, “will lose to her.”

Silas shifted, finally speaking, voice low but edged with frost: “Even you tried to claim her, Lucian, I was there.”

The words, so sharp and cold, made a pulse of heat flare through me. I could taste the challenge. The game was not over. It would never be over. And I would not let them—or anyone—have her without exacting my will.

I felt the night thrum beneath my feet. The courtyard seemed to contract around us. Every shadow lengthened, every whisper of mist curling tighter. My bloodlust sang through my veins, sweet and chaotic, urging me to strike, to provoke, to remind them all that I was not a spectator.

“You can try to control me,” I said finally, voice dark, grinning, letting the hunger drip. “But in the end… I always win.”

And with that, I retreated into the shadows, letting the night swallow me like a velvet curtain, leaving them with the taste of chaos, the echo of threat, and the promise that she would never be theirs without complete chaos.