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Hard times
Last Updated:
2025-11-07 21:58:18
Latest chapter
The cursed mate's return Stranger in our midst
Kael's povI smelled blood before I heard the fight.It came on the back of the air, copper and rain and something feral that made the hair along my arms rise.The corridor we were moving through narrowed into an old service run, concrete walls sweating moisture, lights flickering like they were tired of pretending to work.Maia walked ahead of me, steady but slow, her hand brushing the wall as if she could read what had passed through here before us.She stopped.Her shoulders went tight, not frightened, just alert.“Someone’s hurt,” she said.“I know,” I answered.That was when I heard it. A low grunt, pain dragged through clenched teeth, followed by the scrape of boots on concrete. I moved without thinking, pulling Maia back with one hand and stepping forward, body already bracing for impact.A man stumbled into view from the side passage. He was tall, broad, dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat and blood. His jacket was torn open at the side, soaked through, and the way
The cursed mate's return Consequences of an authority
Kael's povI knew everything had crossed a line when the people stopped reacting like a machine and started reacting like a witness.Systems did not reboot cleanly. They hesitated. Transit grids stalled mid-pattern. Broadcast towers stayed live but silent, as if someone had forgotten what they were supposed to say. People poured into streets and balconies, not running, not hiding, just standing there with the same expression I’d seen on Maia’s face earlier. The look someone gets when a truth lands and refuses to soften.Maia stood at the edge of the platform overlooking the lower levels, hands braced on the rail. She was steady on her feet, but I could tell how much it was costing her. Every breath was controlled. Every blink deliberate. She was holding herself together because she knew if she didn’t, everything else might follow her lead and come apart too.I stayed close without touching her. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I knew she needed space to be herself before she
The cursed mate's return Blood and wine
Kael's povThe city did not explode the way everyone always expects when something fundamental breaks.It kept working.Lights stayed on. Transit lines kept running. People kept moving through streets and corridors, checking their watches, arguing, laughing, unaware that the system beneath their feet had shifted its weight and never settled back into the same place.That frightened me more than explosions ever could.Maia walked ahead of me through the lower access levels, her steps steady despite everything that had just happened. She did not look wounded, but I could feel how tightly she was holding herself together. I stayed close enough that my shoulder almost brushed hers, close enough that she would know I was there without needing to look back.Neither of us spoke.The corridor opened into an abandoned operations deck overlooking a section of the city core. Transparent panels stretched from floor to ceiling, revealing layers of infrastructure and traffic far below. Screens alon
The cursed mate's return Don't turn it off
Kael's pov“All channels are live.”The words hit the room like a dropped glass.I looked up from the console so fast my neck protested. Maia was already on her feet. She didn’t ask who said it. She didn’t need to. Eli stood frozen near the broadcast stack, fingers hovering uselessly over controls that no longer mattered.“What do you mean live?” I asked.Eli swallowed. “I mean there’s no delay. No filter. No regional partitioning. Whatever goes out now goes everywhere.”Maia turned toward the main screen. “How long?”“Ten seconds ago.”I felt my pulse spike. “Who triggered it?”Eli shook his head. “No one did. The system unlocked itself.”That was the moment I understood we were past improvisation.Maia stepped closer to the screen. Her face was calm, but I knew her well enough to see the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers flexed like she was holding something invisible and heavy.“Can you shut it down?” she asked.“I can slow it,” Eli said. “Maybe. But I can’t stop it wit
The cursed mate's return Difficult to end now
Maia's pov“All channels are open.”The words come from the ceiling, flat and wrong.I freeze with my hand still wrapped around Kael’s wrist. He looks at me, sharp and alert, already reading the shift in my face.“Say that again,” he says.“I didn’t say it,” I reply.The room trembles. Not violently. Not yet. Screens along the walls flicker awake one by one, no longer showing diagnostics or schematics, but faces. Thousands of them. Millions. Homes, streets, transit cars, offices. People staring back at us in real time.Eli swears. Loud. “That’s a public feed.”Kael’s grip tightens. “How public?”“All of it,” Eli says. “Every node. Every relay. There’s no filter.”My pulse spikes. I step forward without thinking.“Who opened it?” Kael asks.I already know.“I did,” I say.He turns to me sharply. “Maia.”“I didn’t mean to,” I add, but even as I say it, I feel the lie collapse. I did not stop it. I felt the lock break and I let it happen.A woman appears on one of the screens. She is cry
The cursed mate's return Real comforter
Maia's pov“Maia, if you move one more step, they will see you.”“I already know.”“You say that like it makes it better.”“It makes it honest.”The room is too bright. Flat white light, no shadows, no corners to hide in. The kind of room that exists only to make people tell the truth or break trying. I stop anyway, my hand hovering inches from the door panel.Behind me, Kael exhales sharply. He is trying not to raise his voice. He always does that when he is scared.“We can still walk away,” he says. “No alarms. No broadcasts. We disappear.”I turn to face him. “You know that is not true.”His jaw tightens. “I know you think it is not true.”I step closer. Close enough that I can see the faint cut on his cheek, the one he never notices until it starts bleeding. Close enough that my voice does not need to be loud.“If I walk away now,” I say, “they erase everything we just did. Everyone who woke up forgets again. Everyone who spoke up vanishes quietly.”“And if you go through that doo
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