Sophia POV
I've been watching Callum for the last hour.
He's leading the training session with the kind of focused intensity that makes everyone around him move faster and hit harder. His voice carries across the grounds without needing to shout. People listen because they respect him. Because they're afraid of him. Because he's the kind of dangerous that doesn't need to advertise itself.
I'm standing at the edge of the training field pretending to watch the other warriors. Really I'm tracking every movement he makes. Every time he corrects someone's stance. Every time he demonstrates a fighting technique. Every time his muscles flex beneath the shirt he's wearing.
This is the moment I've been planning for since I woke up in my childhood bed.
The training session is winding down. Warriors are starting to disperse. Callum is talking to one of the senior fighters about something I can't hear. I have maybe five minutes before he leaves and my window closes.
I need him to notice me again.
I need the contact I felt when our eyes met to become something physical. Something undeniable. Something that will make him think about me for the rest of the day and the rest of his life if I can manage it.
I start walking toward the water station near the edge of the training grounds. It's a direct path that will take me close to where Callum is standing. Close enough that if he glances up, he'll see me. Close enough that I can engineer an accidental collision if I time it right.
I'm not nervous. I should be nervous but I'm not. This is easier than manipulating James. This is cleaner. With Callum I don't have to pretend to be broken. I just have to be myself and let him do the rest.
The warrior Callum was talking to walks away. Callum turns and starts moving in my direction. I adjust my path slightly so we're on a collision course. Not obvious. Just a small shift that puts me exactly where I need to be.
He's looking down at something. A document maybe. He's not paying attention to what's in front of him.
Perfect.
I take one more step forward and we crash directly into each other.
The impact is harder than I expected. His chest is solid and warm and I stumble backward. For a second I think I'm actually going to fall. But his hands come up and catch me on instinct. His fingers wrap around my upper arms to steady me.
The moment his skin touches mine, everything stops.
It's like electricity. Not metaphorically. Actually like someone just ran current through both of us. My entire body goes rigid. My breath catches in my throat. I can feel every point where his hands touch my skin and it's burning. It's alive. It's something I absolutely did not plan on feeling.
I didn't expect this.
I expected to use Callum. I expected to manipulate his attraction to me. I expected to control the situation.
What I didn't expect was to feel anything myself.
Callum pulls back like I just burned him. His hands drop away and he steps backward. His breathing is heavier than it should be for an accidental collision. His eyes are darker than they were a second ago.
He felt it too.
Whatever that was, it wasn't just me. It hit him just as hard as it hit me.
"You should be more careful," he says quietly. His voice is rough like he's fighting something inside himself.
I look up at him with wide eyes. I let him see the confusion there. Let him see that I'm affected. Let him see that I'm not in complete control of this situation anymore. The truth of it makes me even more dangerous.
"Maybe I'm tired of being careful," I say back.
The words hang between us heavy and loaded with meaning I didn't completely intend. It's supposed to be a flirty line. It's supposed to be calculated and strategic. But there's real weight to it. Real truth. I am tired of being careful. I'm tired of pretending to be someone smaller than I am.
Callum's jaw clenches.
He looks like he wants to say something. His mouth opens slightly like the words are there, ready to come out. But then he closes it again and just walks away.
He doesn't look back.
But I can feel his focus on me for the rest of the training session. Every time I turn around, I catch him watching. Every time our eyes meet across the distance, there's something electric running between us. Every time he looks away, it's like it takes physical effort.
I've hooked him.
Phase one is complete.
Now I need to be careful not to reel him in too fast. Obsession needs time to build. It needs to grow like a virus in his system. If I push too hard, he'll realize what I'm doing. He'll pull back and protect himself. But if I move slowly, if I keep him just interested enough, if I keep appearing exactly when he's about to forget about me, I can turn him into something useful.
I can turn him into my weapon.
The training session ends and warriors start leaving. I'm gathering my things slowly, deliberately taking my time. I want to see where Callum goes. I want to know if he's going to seek out James. If he's going to try to understand what just happened between us.
Callum finishes talking to the last warrior and immediately heads toward the residential area. Toward where James lives.
My pulse quickens.
He's going straight to James. Of course he is. The guilt is probably eating him alive. The attraction to his best friend's mate is probably making him feel like a traitor.
I position myself behind some trees so I can watch without being obvious. Callum reaches James's house and doesn't bother knocking. He just walks straight in like he owns the place.
James comes to the door a few minutes later looking confused. Then annoyed.
They're arguing. I can tell from the way their bodies are angled toward each other. From the way their hands are clenched. From the way their voices are rising and falling with intensity. But I can't hear the actual words.
I'm trying to read their lips but the distance is too far. I'm trying to guess what Callum is saying. Is he confessing his attraction? Is he asking about Sophia being at the training grounds? Is he trying to understand what's happening to him?
James looks angry. Really angry. His face is flushed and his hands are shaking.
Then Callum says something that makes James go completely still.
James looks past Callum's shoulder directly at where I'm standing in the shadows. I freeze. For a second I think he can see me. But his eyes slide past my location without registering my presence. I'm too hidden. Too careful.
But something just changed.
Whatever Callum said to James, it was important enough to make James look in my direction. Important enough to make him suspicious. Important enough that the argument just became about something real and specific.
Callum turns to leave and I duck deeper into the shadows.
He's walking away from James's house with his hands in fists and his jaw clenched. He looks confused and angry and conflicted all at once. He looks like someone who just realized something that's going to change everything.
And I'm pretty sure I know what it is.
I'm pretty sure Callum just told James that something is different about Sophia Monroe.
And now James is going to be watching me, which means my timeline just got even tighter.
I need to move faster than I planned.