Liana's breath caught in her throat.
Except me.
Those words echoed inside her chest, sinking deep—too deep—for someone she barely knew.
Kael's hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel, his jaw set, his gold-flecked eyes glowing brighter with every second. The car hummed through a dark stretch of road, the world outside growing colder, heavier… like magic was pressing against the windows.
Liana swallowed.
"Kael… what do you mean by that?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, the car slowed as he turned off the main road, following a quiet, forested path illuminated only by moonlight and the glow in his eyes.
"Liana," he finally said, voice low and steady, "you have something inside you that every witch, every warlock, every creature can sense. A power that shouldn't exist."
She blinked in confusion.
"Power? Kael… I'm just a normal girl who works part time at a café and had the worst breakup of her life today."
His jaw flexed again.
"You think Evan was your worst problem tonight?"
He scoffed softly.
"Evan is the least of them."
Her heart dropped, her fingers curling around her seatbelt.
"Then why is he acting like a psycho?" she burst out. "Why does he remember things he shouldn't? Why does he look at me like—like I belong to him?"
Kael let out a cold breath.
"Because he knows who you are now. The witches restored his memory."
She froze.
"My memory? What… did Evan know?"
Kael glanced at her then, and the gold light swirling in his eyes wasn't just magic—it was anger.
"Everything."
Liana's blood ran cold.
Kael continued, voice darker now.
"He was sent to you six months ago. The witches placed him in your path. Gave him a fake life. Fake past. Fake love story. All so he could watch you. Study you. Report every single thing you did."
Her heartbeat thudded painfully.
"No," she whispered. "Evan… he loved me. He never—"
Kael slammed the brakes suddenly.
The car stopped.
He turned to her fully, eyes burning.
"He didn't love you, Liana. He was assigned to you."
Her vision blurred for a moment.
Her hands shook.
Assigned.
Like she was an object.
A mission.
A target.
She shook her head violently. "But he never slept with me. Not once. He was always giving excuses—always pushing me away—"
"Yes."
Kael's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"That was part of the spell. If he touched you intimately, your magic would wake too early. The witches needed you calm. Quiet. Unaware."
The words hit her like a slap.
"So now—now that they gave him back his memory…"
"He's angry." Kael finished. "Very angry. Because his loyalty wasn't supposed to break. But it did."
Liana's breath trembled.
"Break?"
Kael leaned closer, his voice almost a growl.
"He fell for you. And that was never part of the plan."
Her chest tightened painfully.
"So now he wants you with a madness he can't control. Not because of the assignment. But because he lost you—and because the witches want you back."
Kael's energy thickened around them, warm, protective.
"And because I claimed you first."
Liana's heart skipped.
Even the shadows reacted to his words, curling around the edges of the car.
She whispered, "Kael… what are you?"
His lips twitched into a faint smirk.
"The only thing standing between you and everyone who wants to own you."
A sudden, violent crash echoed from the forest.
Liana jolted, eyes wide.
Kael's head snapped toward the sound, magic pulsing from him in a wave of heat.
"Stay in the car," he ordered.
But before she could object, a figure stepped out of the darkness—
Tall.
Breathing harshly.
Eyes glowing bright red.
Evan.
Her Evan—but not the same man.
"Liana," he said, voice shaking with fury and something close to heartbreak. "You left."
Kael opened his door, magic crackling through the air.
"Oh, hell no," Liana muttered, panic rising. "Not again—Kael, be careful—"
Evan's gaze locked onto her.
"You were mine," he said through clenched teeth. "I didn't touch you because the witches commanded it. But now… now that I remember everything—"
His red eyes shimmered with obsession.
"—I'm done obeying."
Kael stepped in front of her, golden aura blazing.
"Over my dead body."
Evan snarled.
"That can be arranged."