Page 8 of Mystic's Sunrise

She just sawme.

And for the first time since that night I was taken, I felt like I might still be human.

***

IT STARTED WITHlaughter.

Small. Soft. Mine.

Lucy had said something ridiculous—something about how one of the men reminded her of a confused raccoon—and the sound slipped out of me before I could stop it. Quick. Breathless. Real.

Drago looked up from across the room. He didn’t smile. He justwatched.

I felt the weight of his stare across the common room like a hand closing around my throat.

He didn’t come over right away.

But I felt the shift. The change.

That night, when we were alone, he didn’t say anything. Just touched me more than usual, his grip firm, kisses rougher. Not angry. Just...reminding.

His.

Always his.

The next morning, Lucy found me in the kitchen and grinned like nothing was wrong. Like the world wasn’t shifting under our feet.

“You good?” she asked, bumping her shoulder into mine.

I smiled, but it felt thinner than the ones before. “I think… I think you shouldn’t be near me so much.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

I looked down. “He’s watching.”

“Let him,” she muttered. “You need a friend, Zeynep. Not a leash.”

Her words hit something deep in my chest. Something I’d buried.

And that night, Drago noticedeverything.

The way I didn’t lean into his touch as quickly. The way I hesitated before answering him. The way my mood shifted when Lucy left the room.

“You’re different lately,” he said, his expression accusing.

I froze. “I’m just tired.”

“No,” he said, fingers brushing down my arm, slow, deliberate. “It’s her. That mouthy little bitch is whispering in your ear.”

My heart dropped. “She’s not—”

His hand tightened around my wrist.

“Don’t lie to me.”

I didn’t answer.

He leaned in, eyes searching mine like he was peeling back the layers of my soul. “You think she’s your friend? Think she gives a damn what happens to you?”

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