The night was too still.
No sound but the faint hum of broken streetlights and the whisper of settling ash.
When William arrived, the air still trembled from what had happened. The guards fanned out silently, weapons drawn but useless now — the battle was already over. The smell of burnt ozone and blood hung heavy, but there were no corpses. No trace of what Nani had destroyed. Only blackened ground and claw marks carved deep into the concrete.
A few meters away, Est sat on the curb, arms wrapped around himself, staring at the empty street where moments ago the Supreme had stood. His face was pale — not from fear, but shock. The aura Nani left behind made the air almost too heavy to breathe.
William approached, his boots crunching on broken glass.
"You're hurt?"
Est shook his head quickly. "No. Sky took the hit. He—he pushed me out of the way."
His voice cracked. "Then those things came out of nowhere. And Nani—"
He stopped. His throat worked, but no sound came.
William crouched in front of him, eyes scanning for injuries anyway. "You fainted," he said quietly. "You're lucky."
Est let out a shaky laugh. "Lucky? William, he vanished. Just—gone. The air split open. I felt the ground shake. That wasn't just power. That was—"
"Retribution," William said flatly. "The creatures are gone. And the Supreme has the wolf."
Est's head snapped up. "Sky? Is he alive?"
William gave a small nod. "For now. My Lord took him."
"Took him?" Est repeated, disbelief breaking through. "Like—kidnapped?"
William's mouth twitched. "When the Supreme carries someone from a battlefield, it's not kidnapping. It's… protection."
Est frowned. "Right. Protection. Because that's what it looked like—burning the street and vanishing into thin air."
William stood, glancing around. "Don't dwell on what you saw. The ground here still reeks of death." He turned toward the guards. "Erase everything. No trace. No witnesses."
Then, to Est, his voice softened. "He saved your life. The Supreme won't let harm come to him now."
Est nodded slowly, exhaling shakily. "He'd better not. Because if Sky dies after saving me twice, I swear I'll haunt the Supreme myself."
William arched an amused brow. "You might be the only human foolish enough to threaten him."
Est managed a faint grin. "You love me for it."
William didn't deny it — just sighed, already feeling the beginnings of a headache. "Come. Let's go home. He'll want to see you when it's over."
---
The penthouse was quiet—too quiet.
Only the hum of city lights below and the faint, unsteady rhythm of another heartbeat broke the stillness.
Sky lay on the couch, his body pale against the dark sheets, breath shallow. His blood still glimmered faintly under the skin—silver threads chasing through his veins like liquid starlight. The mark over his heart pulsed, defiant, resonating with something ancient.
Nani stood over him, his gloves gone, his hands streaked faintly red. He hadn't carried another living creature in centuries. Yet when he'd lifted the wolf from the street, it had felt like instinct—something older than sense.
Something his blood remembered.
He pressed a cloth to the wound, watching the shimmer of the mark pulse again in rhythm with his own chest.
"The last Guardian," he breathed, voice low, dangerous.
"So you survived."
The curse.
The legend whispered through generations—the one he'd believed long buried in time.
Blood and Moon, bound by fate, not choice.
Each heir carrying the mark of the other.
And now, that mark burned between them.
Nani's jaw tightened. He should have killed him—ended this before the curse rooted again. Yet his fingers wouldn't obey. The closer he stood, the louder something in him whispered mine.
The wolf stirred faintly. A low sound escaped him—half-growl, half-breath—as if he felt the same pull.
Nani knelt beside him, the old instinct of a predator circling too close to something sacred. His hand hovered over the mark, drawn in despite himself.
"You're a danger to me," he said quietly. "To my kin."
But even as he said it, his fingers brushed Sky's chest, tracing the glowing scar.
And the mark flared bright—silver bleeding into gold.
Nani's breath hitched. For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to just them—blood answering moonlight, two heartbeats syncing in perfect defiance.
Pain rippled through him, sharp and beautiful. The curse was alive again.
"No…" he whispered, almost to himself. "It can't be."
Sky gasped, waking briefly, eyes flickering between gold and silver. His voice was hoarse, defiant even in weakness.
"If you're going to kill me, do it."
Nani's lips curved—not in cruelty, but disbelief. "Kill you?"
He leaned closer, voice a velvet murmur. "You think I could?"
He brushed his thumb against Sky's jaw—gentle, but claiming. "You're the curse itself, wolf. But right now… you're mine to protect."
Sky's eyes fluttered closed again, too weak to reply.
The mark on his chest dimmed slowly, settling into a faint glow that matched the ancient symbol on the ring Nani wore—one that hadn't burned in centuries until now.
Nani straightened, face unreadable. His voice, when he spoke, carried the authority of centuries.
"No one must know what he is," he said to the empty room. "Not the council. Not the clans. If they learn, they'll hunt him. And if they touch him…"
His expression darkened. "They'll learn what happens when a Supreme forgets mercy."
---
He dipped a cloth in cool water, wiping away the blood. Sky flinched even unconscious, the sound low and broken. The wounds were shallow, yet they refused to close — no ordinary injury. The bite carried something unnatural.
"Poison," Nani murmured. "No… not poison. Contamination."
The creatures' blood clung to Sky's skin like oil. The Supreme's eyes glowed gold as he whispered an old incantation, one that had not passed his lips in centuries. The remnants of dark magic hissed and burned away.
Still, the wolf's color didn't return.
Nani leaned closer, brushing a damp lock of hair from Sky's forehead. "You're fighting something far older than you realize," he said quietly. "And yet you fight anyway."
Something stirred beneath his ribs — a feeling he didn't recognize at first. It took him a long moment to name it.
Worry.
---
The door burst open behind him.
William entered first, followed closely by Est, whose eyes went wide at the sight before him — Sky lying motionless, pale, half-covered by a silken blanket, and the Supreme seated beside him with blood still streaked down his wrist.
"He's alive," Nani said without looking up. "For now."
Est rushed forward but froze when Nani's gaze lifted — gold, sharp, warning. "Stay there," Nani said softly. "Your scent disturbs the wards."
William stepped forward cautiously. "The creatures?"
"Gone," Nani replied. "Their presence has vanished completely. But their venom lingers in him."
William's brow furrowed. "Venom?"
"Something new. Something wrong."
Nani rose then, every inch of him the calm before a storm. His voice carried quiet command.
"Find the witch who hides him. The one who dared weave spells on what's mine. Bring him here."
William hesitated. "If he's protected by a coven—"
"I don't care." The words snapped like thunder. "Find him."
The room chilled instantly. Even Est fell silent, his usual bravado dissolving into something close to fear.
Nani turned back toward Sky. His expression softened, only a fraction, but enough that William noticed — and wisely said nothing more.
The Supreme reached out, brushing his fingers once against the mark over Sky's heart. The faint pulse that answered was enough to still the storm behind his eyes.
"Whatever you are," he murmured, "you belong to me now."