Semua Bab His Straight Pet: Bab 31 - Bab 40

 Raymond’s POVIt’s really been a long time,” the old woman said, her voice soft, brittle like autumn leaves. Her wrinkled hand reached out to touch my arm as I passed, and I froze mid-step.I turned slowly.She was sitting on her usual wooden stool outside her tiny shop, just beside the narrow bend of the main road in our countryside town. The sun had started to dip low, spilling gold across the cracked pavement and the rusted sign that said: “Ora’s Corner: Fruits & Stuff.”I blinked.“Ora?”She smiled, and the years melted away in her eyes.“Well, if it ain’t my favorite runaway boy,” she said with a slow chuckle. “You still look too skinny, Raymond. What’re they feeding you in the city, air sandwiches?”My lips parted, but for a second, I couldn’t speak. I hadn’t heard anyone say my name with that much affection i

 Jude’s POVI woke to the quiet pulse of my encrypted phone buzzing on the nightstand.The sky outside was still painted in bruised blue, morning barely rising. I blinked the sleep from my eyes, mind slow to realign. My body ached—the aftershock of feeding too late, too fast. My fangs throbbed. My throat was dry.But the notification was insistent.I turned to the screen.[1 Secure Message: Xalor]I sat up instantly.My fingers danced across the lock rune. The phone opened.Three image attachments. No text. Just GPS data embedded deep in the encrypted code.I frowned.Three estates. All high-end. Each one hidden, rural, far off the map. Each one protected by spell-veiled sigils and private roads. I recognized at least one of them as an old outpost from the Northern Dominion—long abandoned.The second one… It looked new. Built in human style, but the architecture whisper

 Jude’s POV"WHAT?!"Xalor's voice cracked like a whip, slicing through the low hum of the bar. The bartender flinched, knocking over an empty glass. It rolled and clinked against the edge of the counter before crashing to the ground.I didn’t answer.Instead, I pulled the bracelet from my coat pocket and dropped it on the counter between us.It landed with a soft thud, but it might as well have been an explosion.Xalor stared at it like it was a severed limb."Tell me that isn’t what I think it is," he said."It is.""He left without this?" Xalor leaned in, his voice a rasp. "That kid… does he want to die out there? Does he have a goddamn death wish?!"I gritted my teeth. "He slipped out when I was asleep. Didn’t tell anyone. Didn’t leave a message."Xalor ran a hand through his messy, blood-streaked hair, eyes darting like they were scanning memories. "He&

Raymond’s POVHe said, "To help you." The words echoed, strange and sweet like poison candy. It should’ve been comforting. But nothing about this man—his stillness, his voice, his stare—felt remotely comforting. I leaned back, eyes locked on him."Help me how?" I asked.He laced his fingers together on the table, rings clicking softly. "By telling you the truth."I waited.He smiled, faintly. As if savoring the moment. "Jude isn’t who you think he is."My heart clenched, but I kept my face still.He continued, "He says he loves you. Protects you. Watches over you like some noble creature wrapped in sorrow and fire. But you and I both know he doesn’t see you as an equal."I stayed silent."He keeps you locked away. He hides things from you. He gives you trinkets, tells you they’ll keep you safe—but never explains from what. He tells you when to eat, when to sleep, when to speak. Doesn’t he?"My fingers tightened around my fork."He doesn’t let you leave the manor without permission. He

Raymond’s POVThe first thing I felt was heat. Not the soft kind you get from a blanket or the sun on your skin. This was deeper. Hot like it was crawling up from my bones. Like fire had settled in my chest and was just... waiting.I opened my eyes.At first, I thought I was dreaming. The sky above me was a deep, bruised red, as if the clouds had been soaked in blood. There were no stars. No moon. Just that heavy, endless red. The ground under me was black stone, cracked in places, glowing orange with heat that pulsed like a heartbeat.It wasn’t Earth. I knew that without question. And it wasn’t a dream.I stood slowly, every movement stiff with pain. I was dressed in what I’d worn before—my coat, my boots—but the air smelled like smoke and something older, something like burning metal and forgotten bones."Where the hell am I?" I muttered.The wind didn’t answer. But the whispers did.They slithered around me, voices in a language I didn’t recognize, yet somehow understood. Words tha