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Chapter 23
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2026-04-18 15:08:16Eli stopped walking.
He didn’t know why.
Nothing had changed in front of him.
Same street.
Same quiet evening.
Same distant sound of wind brushing past buildings.
But something felt… aligned wrong.
Like the world had tilted slightly and refused to correct itself.
“…Okay,” Eli muttered under his breath. “This is getting creepy.”
He turned his head slowly.
Nothing.
But the feeling didn’t leave.
It wasn’t fear.
Not exactly.
It was awareness.
Like someone was close enough to breathe the same air.
“…Kieran?” he called out lightly.
No answer.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t there.
Eli exhaled.
“…I swear if this is your idea of fun—”
“Fun is not the word I would use.”
Eli froze slightly.
Then turned.
Kieran stood behind him.
Close enough that Eli hadn’t even heard him approach.
Again.
Eli frowned immediately.
“…You need to stop doing that.”
Kieran’s eyes stayed on him.
Not cold.
Not distant.
Focused.
“…You noticed me.”
“That’s not the point,” Eli said.
Kieran stepped slightly closer.
“Then what is?”
Eli hesitated.
“…That you keep appearing like a shadow.”
A faint pause.
Then Kieran spoke.
“…Would you prefer I announce myself?”
Eli blinked.
“…Yes?”
Kieran tilted his head slightly.
“…That defeats the purpose.”
Eli sighed.
“…You’re impossible.”
This time—
Something subtle shifted in Kieran’s expression.
Not visible to others.
But Eli caught it.
A faint softness.
Just for a second.
“…You are uncomfortable,” Kieran said.
Eli crossed his arms.
“…A little, yeah.”
Kieran stepped closer again.
This time slower.
Intentional.
Not invading.
But closing distance.
“…Then I will adjust.”
Eli blinked.
“…You will?”
Kieran nodded once.
“Yes.”
That surprised him more than it should have.
Eli frowned slightly.
“…Since when do you adjust for anyone?”
Kieran’s gaze didn’t move.
“…Since you.”
Silence.
Not heavy.
Not tense.
Just… different.
Eli didn’t know how to respond to that.
So he didn’t.
Instead—
He looked away slightly.
“…You’re weird today.”
Kieran didn’t deny it.
Instead, he stepped closer again.
Now close enough that Eli could feel his presence properly.
Not threatening.
Just… grounding.
“…You are still uneasy,” Kieran said quietly.
Eli exhaled.
“…I feel like I’m being watched.”
Kieran’s expression sharpened slightly.
“…You are.”
Eli frowned.
“…By who?”
A pause.
Kieran didn’t answer immediately.
Instead—
He raised a hand slightly.
And gently tapped two fingers near Eli’s wrist.
Right where a faint warmth had been lingering since yesterday.
Eli flinched slightly.
“…What was that?”
Kieran’s voice lowered.
“…You feel it now.”
Eli blinked.
“…Feel what?”
Kieran didn’t answer directly.
Instead, he stepped even closer.
Now their space was minimal.
But not uncomfortable.
Strangely…
familiar.
“…You should already know,” Kieran said.
Eli frowned deeper.
“…Know what?”
Kieran’s gaze softened slightly.
“…Me.”
That hit differently.
Eli hesitated.
“…That doesn’t make sense.”
Kieran tilted his head.
“…It does.”
A pause.
Then Kieran added something quieter.
“…You always respond to me.”
Eli opened his mouth—
Then closed it again.
Because that… was true.
He didn’t know why.
But it was.
Kieran’s voice softened again.
“…Even before you remember me.”
Eli froze slightly.
“…Before I remember you?”
Kieran didn’t correct himself.
Didn’t back away.
Just watched him.
Carefully.
Softly.
Like something fragile he didn’t want to break.
Eli’s voice dropped.
“…What are you talking about?”
A pause.
Then Kieran reached out.
Not grabbing.
Just lightly brushing Eli’s wrist again.
Gentle.
Controlled.
Possessive in a quiet way.
“…You are mine,” he said simply.
Eli frowned immediately.
“…You keep saying that.”
Kieran didn’t argue.
Instead—
“…Because it is true.”
Eli shook his head.
“…That’s not an answer.”
Kieran stepped slightly closer again.
Now his voice dropped further.
More personal.
Less Alpha.
More him.
“…You don’t reject it fully.”
Eli paused.
That—
That wasn’t wrong.
But it didn’t feel like agreement either.
Just… confusion.
“…I don’t know what I feel,” Eli admitted quietly.
That honesty made Kieran still.
Just for a moment.
Then—
Something shifted in his eyes.
Softer.
Almost… satisfied.
“…That is enough,” he said.
Eli frowned.
“…That’s not normal.”
Kieran’s voice carried something almost like quiet amusement.
“…Nothing about you is normal.”
That made Eli blink.
Then scoff slightly.
“…Wow. Thanks.”
Kieran didn’t smile openly.
But something in his expression softened again.
Just for Eli.
“…You are safe,” he said.
Eli looked at him.
“…With you?”
Kieran nodded.
“Yes.”
Eli hesitated.
“…Even with all this weird stuff happening?”
Kieran’s gaze darkened slightly.
Not at Eli.
At everything else.
“…Especially because of it.”
Silence.
Then Eli sighed.
“…You really believe that, huh?”
Kieran stepped back slightly now.
Creating space.
But his eyes didn’t leave him.
“…I do not believe it,” he said quietly.
A pause.
Then—
“I know it.”
That sentence lingered longer than expected.
Eli looked at him for a moment.
Then muttered softly:
“…You’re really intense.”
Kieran’s voice lowered slightly.
Only for him.
“…Only with you.”
That landed.
Not like a confession.
Not like a romance line.
More like a fact that already existed long before Eli realized it.
And for the first time—
Eli didn’t argue immediately.
He just looked at him.
Quiet.
Thinking.
Trying to understand something that felt like it had always been there.
But he had never noticed.
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