Elias didn't raise his voice.
He didn't panic.
But the moment I whispered "He's here", something in him changed
like a switch flipping from calm to protective.
Rowan immediately stepped closer to my left side, his hand gently hovering behind my back, comforting without touching.
Elias moved to my right, close enough that his presence felt like a shield.
"Don't turn around," he murmured again.
His voice was still low, but there was steel under it now.
My heartbeat thudded in my ears.
That heavy, crawling feeling on my neck wasn't imagination.
Someone was watching me.
And they weren't even trying to hide it anymore.
"Where?" Rowan asked quietly, his artistic warmth replaced with softness sharpened by fear.
"Across the street," I breathed.
"I can feel it."
Elias's jaw clenched once. "Rowan. Don't let her out of your sight."
Rowan nodded, his entire posture shifting ,less carefree, more alert.
Then Elias stepped away from me, just one slow, controlled movement into the open street.
"Elias" I whispered, reaching out instinctively.
He lifted a hand. "Don't move."
The air around us thickened.
A car drove by slowly, headlights flickering over the pavement.
People walked, talked, laughed, unaware of the tension threading through our little corner of the world.
Rowan leaned down toward me. "Ava, breathe."
"I'm trying," I whispered.
He glanced at his brother. "He's not going to let anything happen to you."
I didn't know why Rowan sounded so sure.
Or why Elias looked like he'd been waiting for this moment.
Elias scanned the opposite side of the street, eyes sharp, expression unreadable.
His entire body looked prepared not for a fight, but for information. For recognition.
Like he'd seen this kind of danger before.
After a moment that stretched too long, he returned to my side.
"He's gone," Elias said quietly.
"What do you mean gone?" I asked.
"I didn't even see who_"
"You weren't supposed to," Elias said.
"But he left. Quickly."
"That doesn't make me feel safer."
"It's not meant to," he replied honestly.
Rowan exhaled shakily. "This is getting serious."Elias didn't respond.
He only looked at me ,really looked,eyes darker than before, not with anger but something far heavier.
"Ava," he said softly, "this is the third time you've felt him, isn't it?"
I nodded slowly. "Yes. Yesterday night. This afternoon. And now."
Elias's voice lowered to something almost like a whisper meant only for me.
"Then this isn't random."
My stomach dropped. "What are you saying?"
Rowan stepped closer. "Ava, someone might be following you." I swallowed. Hard.
My voice shook. "But why? I don't have enemies. I'm literally just a barista_"
"That doesn't matter," Elias cut in gently but firmly.
"Sometimes danger chooses people for reasons they don't know yet."
That sentence hit me in a way I didn't expect.
Like a warning.
Or a prophecy.
Elias glanced at Rowan. "I'm taking her home."
Rowan frowned. "She should choose.."
"This isn't a debate," Elias said. "She's not walking alone."
Rowan's jaw tightened, but he didn't argue further.
They both turned to me.
Elias tall, dark, controlled.
Rowan warm, protective, earnest.
Two brothers,two different kinds of safety.
And behind both of them…a danger neither fully understood, but both recognized.
"Ava," Elias said, "come with me."My breath trembled.
The city lights flickered across his eyes, turning them a strange, stormy color.
I didn't know him,not really.
But the fear crawling down my spine told me one thing:
Tonight was not the night to be alone.
"I'll come with you," I whispered.
Elias nodded once like he'd expected that answer.
Rowan exhaled slowly, disappointment flickering across his face before he hid it behind a soft, almost forced smile.
"Call me when you get home," he said.
"I will."
As Elias opened the car door for me, Rowan lingered for one more second.
His eyes met mine.
"Ava…" he said quietly, "you don't know how dangerous this could be."
I swallowed. "I know."
"No," Rowan whispered.
"You don't.
But he does."
I looked at him sharply.
"Rowan… what are you saying?"
He hesitated.
Then his voice dropped to something almost painful:
"Just be careful with him."i froze.
He didn't mean the man watching me.
He meant his brother,Elias.
The air seemed to shift again ,not with fear this time, but with something far more complicated.
I climbed into the car, my pulse thudding with confusion and danger and curiosity all tangled together.
Elias got into the driver's seat.
The doors shut.
And for the first time since I met him….we were alone.
The engine came to life, smooth and deep, and he pulled into the night with a quiet confidence that made my heart pound harder.
I didn't know what waited ahead of me.
The danger outside…
or the danger sitting beside me.