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Chapter 26 — Web of Shadows
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2025-10-02 05:56:00The city felt alive in a way that made every nerve taut. Streetlights flickered in the drizzle, casting elongated shadows that twisted like serpents across the wet pavement. Hunters were still out there, I knew it—testing, observing, refining their tactics. And if Travis were here, he’d have laughed at the irony of being hunted by people who treated their game like a chessboard.
I didn’t laugh. Not tonight.
I moved with calculated precision, stepping lightly, letting my boots splash quietly in puddles that reflected neon in fractured colors. Jay followed close behind, his presence a cautious comfort, though I kept him at a measured distance. Trust was earned, not given, and this city had taught me that lesson brutally.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered, voice low, listening to the faint hum of activity. A car idled nearby, engine off, lights dimmed. The figure inside was waiting—watching.
Jay glanced at me, eyes narrowing. “Probably a scout. Hunters still
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Shadows and First Blood Chapter 49 — The Wolf at the Door
The city pulsed under his skin like a fever that never broke.New York wasn’t made for creatures like him; it smelled too much of iron and asphalt, too many heartbeats layered on top of one another. Every alley carried a whisper of prey, every rooftop the memory of flight. Matrix moved through it with the patience of a hunter who had already died once and learned that the only thing worse than dying was being caught living wrong.The hunters had dropped him here with a name and a promise.SILVER.That was all the file said in bold at the top of the page. The rest was rumor—vampire, female, operative turned rogue, responsible for the death of Lieutenant Harker. No photos that matched the stories, no verified sightings, just a
Shadows and First Blood Chapter 48 — The Offer
He’d been running for three days before they found him.Rain, alley grit, the taste of iron in his mouth; that was the rhythm of his life then. He’d left the pack behind in British Columbia after the last hunt went bad—two hunters dead, one wolf torn open, everyone blaming everyone else. Matrix had learned early that loyalty only worked if the others were still breathing.So when the black van cut across the street and boxed him in, he didn’t fight. He waited, crouched low, muscles coiled. The doors opened and the smell of silver hit him like frostbite.“Matrix,” a voice said. “You’re hard to track.”The man who stepped out wore hunter black but not the usual mercenary scowl. He looked like
Shadows and First Blood Chapter 47 — The Lock and the Lie
Morning bled through the blinds in thin, watery lines.For a second, I forgot where I was. The ceiling wasn’t cracked in the same places as mine, the air didn’t smell of dust and coffee. It smelled of him—cedar, iron, rain.Matrix’s side of the bed was already empty. A half-folded shirt lay on the chair, his boots lined up like soldiers at parade rest. Everything in this apartment obeyed him; even the silence seemed disciplined.I slipped from the sheets, hunting for my jeans. If I moved quickly, maybe I could catch the bus to O’Rourke & Finch before he noticed.Normalcy—that was the plan. Go to work, restock the shelves, breathe in old paper until the world made sense again.The door handle didn’t tu
Shadows and First Blood Chapter 46 — The Cage in His Voice
I woke to stillness.No hum of traffic, no thin whistle through cracked windows. Just the scent of cedar and the weight of a room that wasn’t mine.The sheet smelled like him. I hated how comforting that was.Matrix was already up, standing by the window with the curtain pulled half open. Morning light traced the planes of his shoulders, every inch of him a warning carved into calm.“Morning,” I said.He turned, slow, deliberate, like a predator deciding whether to hunt. “You’re home.”I blinked. “I’m… what?”“Here,” he said, as if it were the simplest truth in the world. “You live
Shadows and First Blood Chapter 45 — Bound and Bright
The rope tightened with a hiss of leather, the sound loud in the hush of his den.My wrists were already above my head, palms flat against the wall, my body stretched to the edge of balance.Matrix’s breath ghosted over my ear. “Breathe.”I did. The air smelled of him: smoke and cedar and rain waiting to fall.He drew back just enough to look at me. The wolf was closer to the surface now — eyes gone deep, pupils blown, a flick of fang when his mouth curled. The calm man from the diner was gone. In his place stood the thing that had survived alleys and hunters and come to claim me.“You asked for stars,” he said softly. “Let’s see if you can take them.”
Shadows and First Blood Chapter 44 — Teeth Behind the Smile
The next time he asked, I didn’t say no.We’d gone through the motions—his quiet visits, the shelves holding still in his presence, my stubborn refusals softening by degree. But after Travis faded, after the shop whispered me into silence, saying yes felt less like surrender and more like admitting the truth I’d been circling for months: I wanted the noise.He showed up at closing, as if he already knew the answer I hadn’t given yet.“Dinner?” Matrix asked, leaning in the doorway. Not pushy. Not hesitant. Just certain.My body betrayed me before my mouth caught up. “Fine,” I muttered. “One dinner.”The restaurant was small, tucked into a side street that smelled of basil
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