Chapter 5

The shadow in the doorway froze, a figure I couldn’t quite make out in the failing light. Every muscle in Jace tensed, protective and ready to act. My chest tightened, but it wasn’t fear alone—it was the way he was pressed so close, the heat radiating off him in the cramped shed.

“Who’s there?” Jace demanded, his voice low, dangerous.

No answer. Just the soft shuffle of footsteps circling, slow and deliberate. Whoever it was knew we were trapped. Knew we were alone.

I felt Jace’s hand tighten around mine, pulling me closer behind the crates. My back pressed against his chest, and I realized—fully—that I was never going to get used to the way my body reacted to him. Every time he was near, my heart threatened to betray me, to give away every thought I tried to hide.

“Stay calm,” he murmured, but his words were a lie. His jaw was tight, his eyes sharp in the darkness, scanning every corner. “If this is a prank, it’s not funny.”

I swallowed. “It’s not a prank.”

“No,” he agreed, voice harsh. “Someone wants to scare us… or worse.”

I shivered—not from cold. “What do we do?”

He pressed his forehead against the back of my neck. “We wait. And we stay together. No matter what.”

His breath was hot against my skin, and I wanted to tell him to stop teasing, to stop being impossible, to stop making me want him in ways I wasn’t supposed to. But the words died in my throat as another shuffle came from the corner.

Then a whisper. Low. Menacing. Familiar, and yet… off.

“You think you can hide in here?”

Jace’s hand shot to my waist, pulling me instinctively behind him. “Who’s there?” His voice was calm, but the tension vibrating through it betrayed him.

“I said… you can’t hide from me.” The voice was closer, echoing against the wooden walls.

I froze, heart hammering. Whoever it was—this person wasn’t just after us. They were playing a game, and Jace’s protective stance told me he knew it.

Suddenly, something cold brushed my arm. I yelped, stumbling slightly. Jace’s grip tightened, anchoring me to him. “Don’t move,” he hissed.

The shadow shifted. I felt it. It was in the shed now.

I pressed back against Jace, and he whispered, voice low and urgent, “Aria… if this goes wrong—”

I caught his meaning before he could finish. But I wasn’t scared. Not really. Because even with danger closing in, even with adrenaline pounding in my veins, part of me thrived on being this close to him, trapped in the dark, forbidden, yet electrifying.

The footsteps stopped. Silence filled the shed, thicker than the darkness.

Then… a laugh.

Low, deliberate, terrifying.

And a voice I didn’t expect, one that made my blood run cold:

“Well, well… look who we have here.”

Jace’s eyes snapped to me, dark and protective. “Aria… run.”

But the shed door slammed shut behind whoever it was, plunging us into total darkness—and leaving us trapped together with someone who clearly didn’t want us alive… or at least… unscathed.