Kayla’s POVLight. Endless and blinding. It wrapped around me like a blanket made of heat and silence, burning but tender. For a long time, I didn’t know if I was alive or dreaming. There was no sound, no air, no sense of up or down. Just that warmth, pulsing through me like a heartbeat.Then, faintly, a whisper broke through the light.Wake up, Kayla.My eyelids fluttered. The light dimmed. The world began to take shape—soft blue skies, grass swaying in slow motion, and the faint shimmer of water nearby. It looked too perfect, too still, like a painting that had come to life.And standing in the middle of it was Ethan.He looked just as I remembered—dark hair, sharp eyes, a calm smile that had always been equal parts comfort and danger. But now, his eyes glowed faintly. Not human anymore. Not entirely.“I told you we’d see each other again,” he said softly.My body trembled, torn between relief and rage. “Where am I?”“In between,” he said. “Your mind, your heart, your power—it all l
Kayla’s POVThe dawn came too quickly. Pale light cut through the trees, brushing across the wreckage of the night before, but it brought no peace. The world felt colder now, emptier. Even the air tasted strange—like iron and smoke.I sat by the edge of the clearing, my fingers buried in the dirt. The earth was still trembling faintly, pulsing with something I couldn’t see but could feel deep inside me. It was faint, rhythmic, like a second heartbeat—his heartbeat.Damien and Liam were talking a few feet away. Their voices were low but sharp, every word laced with tension. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I didn’t need to. I could feel their fear. And worse, I could feel their pity.I didn’t want pity. I wanted control.But control was slipping further away.Every time I blinked, I saw flickers of him—Ethan—his silhouette shifting in the periphery of my vision, his voice threading through my thoughts like silk.You can feel it, can’t you? The power. The way it moves unde
Kayla’s POVThe forest was quiet. Too quiet. The silence pressed against my ears until it almost hummed. The wind that had once carried the chaos of battle was gone now, replaced by an eerie stillness. The faint glow beneath my skin hadn’t faded. Every flicker of light that pulsed through my veins reminded me that I wasn’t entirely myself anymore.Damien’s hand trembled as he reached for me. “Kayla… look at me.”I lifted my gaze to him. His face was pale, his eyes dark with exhaustion, but it was the fear I saw there that broke me. He was terrified. Not of Ethan, not of what had just happened, but of me.“I can’t control it,” I whispered, tears burning at the edges of my vision. “He’s inside me, Damien. I can feel him. Every time I breathe, he’s there.”Damien shook his head fiercely. “Then don’t let him take you. We’ll find a way to stop this.”He cupped my face, his touch steady and desperate. For a moment, I almost believed him. The warmth of his palms spread through me, grounding
Kayla’s POVWe were all too long, and terrible silent.There must have been a crackling of tension between us in the air between us, so tangible I tasted it. And Ethan was standing in the clearing like a ghost dragged out of my nightmares, but he was calm as he was suffocating. His eyes had a blue glow in them that was hypnotic, inhuman.Damien shifted in front of me instinctively, his body tense, one hand reaching behind to pull me closer. “That’s not possible,” he whispered, his voice rough with disbelief. “You’re dead.”Ethan’s lips curved into a faint, haunting smile. “Death is such a fragile thing, Damien. You of all people should know that.” His gaze slid past him—past Liam—and settled on me. “Hello, Kayla.”My throat tightened. “You shouldn’t be here.”He tilted his head slightly, his eyes studying me the way a scientist might examine a fragile experiment. “And yet, I am. Because you brought me back.”I shook my head. “No. You died in that explosion.”Ethan took a slow step for
Kayla’s POVMorning came slowly, dragging sunlight across the forest floor like a reluctant promise. The faint glow filtered through the trees, but it did nothing to chase away the unease that clung to me.I hadn’t slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. My reflection smiling without me. My body moving when I didn’t command it. And beneath it all, that voice whispering like a secret only my bones could hear.You’re not losing control, Kayla. You’re becoming who you were meant to be.I sat near the fire, hugging my knees to my chest. The air smelled like damp earth and smoke. Damien was still asleep, exhaustion softening his features, but even in rest he looked tense. The way his fingers twitched, the way his brow furrowed—it was as though his dreams were fighting him.A part of me wanted to wake him, to feel his warmth again, to remind myself that I was still human. But another part—the one that was growing louder—wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t.Because she wasn’t
Kayla’s POVThe night air outside the ruined facility was cold enough to bite. My hands were trembling, my skin pale under the moonlight, but it wasn’t the chill that unsettled me—it was the quiet. The kind of quiet that felt alive, like the earth itself was holding its breath.We had escaped, or so Damien believed. Liam had stayed behind to destroy the last of the system, promising he’d follow us soon. But every part of me knew the truth: he wasn’t coming back. And the voice in my head wouldn’t let me believe otherwise.You can’t trust him.Her whisper slid like silk through my mind, soft, intimate, cruel.I pressed a hand to my temple, trying to shut her out. “Stop,” I murmured under my breath.Damien glanced at me from where he was setting up the fire, his expression softening. “Headache again?”I nodded, unable to meet his eyes. “Just… tired.”He moved to my side, kneeling in front of me, his hand brushing a strand of hair away from my face. His touch was gentle, grounding, pullin