Chapter ten- Jason

“You should drink some water,” I murmured, soft enough that only she could hear. Her eyes flicked up to me, wary but grateful, and she accepted the flask I offered. Small. Fragile. But there was strength buried in her, I could see it—the kind forged in fire, the kind that didn’t bend easily.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked after a moment, her voice low.

“To safety,” I said simply.

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “That’s not an answer.”

I almost smiled—because she was right. Because Amelia didn’t seem like the kind of girl who’d settle for half-truths. But before I could say more, the forest shifted. A snap of a twig, the whisper of movement too deliberate to be wind.

I reacted instantly, pulling Amelia behind me. Dimitri had already drawn steel, his golden eyes catching the moonlight, and Mateo melted into the dark like he’d been born from it.

Shapes moved between the trees. More of them. Reinforcements.

“Jason.” Dimitri’s voice was calm, steady, but I knew that tone. A battle was seconds away.

I nodded once, shifting my stance, feeling the weight of the blade in my hand. Behind me, Amelia clutched at my arm, fear radiating from her like heat.

I leaned back just enough for her to hear me. “Stay behind me. No matter what.”

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. Brave, even in the face of the unknown.

The first shadow lunged from the trees, and the night erupted into chaos.

Amelia pov

The world exploded around me.

One moment, Jason’s broad frame was a shield between me and the darkness. The next, the night itself came alive with snarls and flashing steel. Shadows lunged from the trees—men, creatures, I couldn’t tell. Everything blurred together, claws and blades and the guttural sounds of violence.

I stumbled back, my hands clutching at nothing, trying to make sense of the chaos. Jason moved like water, every strike precise, every step placed to keep me behind him. Mateo vanished into the dark, only to reappear with blood dripping from his knife, his golden eyes burning like fire. Dimitri… Dimitri was everywhere at once, his blade an extension of his fury, cutting down anything that dared come near me.

But it wasn’t enough. There were too many.

“Stay close!” Jason barked, blocking a blow meant for me. The force of it rattled through him, and through me too, as though the bond between us tied our nerves together.

I wanted to obey, but fear clawed at my chest. The forest pressed in on all sides, suffocating, and for one wild heartbeat, I thought I saw something else moving beyond the attackers. Watching. Waiting.

My breath caught. Not human. Not even close.

The moon shifted overhead, slipping from behind a cloud, and for an instant, silver light illuminated the clearing. And then I saw it.

Eyes—glowing, feral, fixed on me.

A chill slid down my spine, colder than any blade. This was different from the men who had taken me. Different from the mercenaries we fought now. This… this was the thing my kidnappers had feared when they whispered in the dark.

“Dimitri!” My voice tore from my throat before I could stop it.

His head snapped toward me, eyes flashing, and when he saw where I was looking, his expression hardened like stone.

“Jason—take her!” he commanded, his voice a growl that seemed to shake the trees themselves.

Jason’s hand closed around mine, strong and unyielding, even as I tried to twist back, to see that creature again. But the shadows swallowed it whole, as though it had never been there.

And deep down, I knew: it hadn’t been my imagination. Something was hunting me. Something worse than all the rest.