"My name is Kadyn Xavier Llyris."
He said the words slowly, as if speaking his own name out loud might anchor him to the booth, to the sticky wooden table, to the amber lights of the bar tucked beneath an old subway line in Brooklyn, away from what was haunting him. Or better still, provide the answers he was looking for.
"I'm twenty-seven years old. I never went to college. Not really." He exhaled and rubbed his palm over his face. "I don't know who my parents are. I never met them."
Across from him, Officer Liira Segast sat unusually still, her glass of pomegranate cider untouched. The music from the jukebox hummed faintly, some old soul track crackling through worn speakers.
"I'm terrible at making friends," he went on, voice flattening. "And for the record, you definitely upset me when you slid into this booth like you owned the place and put your hands on me."
Her lips parted, but she didn't interrupt.
"A few years ago," he continued, "my uncle died of cancer. That was the end of whatever chance I had at going back to school. Funny thing is, I didn't grieve him properly. I kept moving like he'd show up one night, drunk, collapsed in the hallway of our apartment building the way he always did."
His jaw tightened.
"But yesterday," he said quietly, "it finally hit me that he's gone. Completely. No more hallway. No more bottle rolling out of his hand. No more pretending he'd wake up and yell my name."
He laughed once; the sound was short and hollow.
"And it's strange how memory works.' The only image that ever comes back to me is him slumped against the tile, vomit on his jacket, still clutching that cheap bourbon like it was the only thing keeping him alive."
Liira Segast's eyes softened, though her posture remained guarded.
"Let's be honest," Kadyn said, lifting his glass. "I'm not exactly impressive. I'm a deeply unimpressive man."
He drank, then set the glass down with a quiet clink.
"There was this girl. Mary Hartley. High school. I liked her for years. She was untouchable. Old money. Chauffeur-driven black Mercedes. Meanwhile, I was juggling homework with overnight shifts at a car wash in Queens."
He smiled faintly. "So, I admired her from a distance. Bought her things anonymously. Books. Scarves. Concert tickets. She probably never even realized they came from me."
His gaze dropped to the table.
"I stopped when her father hired private security to deal with the so-called 'mystery admirer.' She's married now. To the mayor of some quiet upstate town where nothing ever happens."
He shrugged. "Every once in a while, I see her face online. That same smile. And it feels like high school didn't just end. It evaporated."
The bar felt warmer now, the air thick with the smell of grilled lamb skewers and toasted flatbread drifting in from the kitchen.
"I can fix broken things," he said. "Engines. Doors. Security systems. But I can't fix myself. I got a job as a security officer at a massive firm in Midtown. Good pay. Good benefits. The guys there don't talk to me."
He laughed under his breath. "It's high school all over again. Not bullied. Not included. Just… present."
He leaned back and looked at her directly.
"And then, two nights ago, things stopped making sense."
Her fingers tightened around her glass.
"I saw myself as something else. An animal. I called someone my mate. My boss." He paused, watching her carefully. "I protected her. Fought for her. Saved her from dying."
His voice dropped.
"I made a coffee mug float in midair. Then tonight, I moved so fast I don't even remember the ground beneath my feet. I saved a kid in a park near the East River."
Silence stretched between them.
"So yeah," Kadyn finished, "I've reached the point where all I want to do is unload all of this on a stranger and walk away clean. You happened to sit down. Lucky me."
He exhaled deeply, as if shedding something heavy.
"That's all there is to it, Officer."
Officer Liira Segast stared at him, stunned. Her face flushed. Her jaw hung open, and for a fleeting second, she looked less like federal law enforcement and more like a woman who had just watched the world tilt sideways.
Kadyn smirked, oddly satisfied.
The weight was no longer his alone.
He stood, flagged the waitress, paid his bill, and left a generous tip for the woman, who was struggling to balance a tray of spicy shrimp tacos and glasses of sparkling water.
For the first time in months, he took a deep breath and smiled as he stepped back into the neon-lit New York night.
***
"What?"
"You heard me."
Olena didn't look up from the documents on her desk as she spoke.
"You'll be working with Jerry from now on."
She flicked her wrist dismissively.
"Dismissed."
***
The night before, Jerry had barely been able to keep pace with her.
Olena had run.
Not jogged. Not hurried. She had sprinted through rain-slicked sidewalks, her heels abandoned somewhere behind her, her lungs burning as she crossed the glass doors of the Paramount complex.
The speed haunted her.
It felt identical to the blur that had saved her in the underground garage days earlier.
She ignored the elevators and took the stairs two at a time, security personnel scattering as she passed. By the sixth floor, her legs trembled. By the twelfth, she collapsed.
She sat on the steps and cried, makeup streaking down her face as Zeph stood frozen, utterly lost.
Minutes passed before she looked up.
"Where's Mr. Kadyn?" she asked hoarsely.
"He was scheduled tonight, but—"
"He's not here," she whispered.
He shook his head. "He called in sick."
She nodded, stood slowly, and resumed climbing.
"Prepare the paperwork," she said over her shoulder. "Kadyn is becoming my bodyguard."
Zeph stopped walking.
The color drained from his face.
She turned back, catching the look, realization dawning.
"I can have two bodyguards," she added sharply. "Can't I?"
He murmured something incoherent and forced a smile.
Later, she changed into fresh clothes from a designer boutique across the street, washed the fear from her skin in her private bathroom, and stayed awake until dawn.
Grey eyes. Long fangs. Speed like the wind.
She called Kadyn the moment he clocked in.
"Mr. Kadyn Llyris," she said calmly. "Congratulations. I've appointed you as my personal bodyguard."
***
The promotion should have thrilled him.
Instead, it unsettled him.
Part of Kadyn was relieved. The job put him close enough to protect her adequately. Another part of him whispered every terrible possibility.
What if she saw him that night?
What if this wasn't recognition but surveillance?
The office buzzed with confusion. Whispers followed him as he packed his belongings and moved into the glass-walled office beside hers.
He couldn't see her clearly through the tinted panel. Only her silhouette. The way she twirled a pen while speaking on the phone.
"You might want to sit down and wait," Zeph muttered. "Staring won't help."
"I'm appreciating the view," Kadyn replied lightly. "Feel free to join."
To his surprise, Zeph snorted before catching himself.
"Mr. Kadyn?" Olena's secretary called.
He stood immediately. Inside her office, Olena regarded him coolly.
"Did you forget your manners?" she asked. "Why didn't you knock first?"
"You asked her to call me."
"You'll be my bodyguard now. You should let Zeph show you the ropes."
"The ropes?" he echoed. "You want me to trail you like furniture?"
Her eyes burned. Green, flecked with gold.
"There are hundreds who'd kill for this job." She said through clenched teeth.
"I know," he said evenly. "Which is why I want to know what you want from me."
She stepped closer.
Studied him.
Then asked softly, dangerously:
"Who are you?"