Page 122 of Stars in Umbra
Holographic advertisements flickered on every available surface, projecting impossibly perfect faces and enticing products, their bright, ephemeral images dancing in her peripheral vision.
The air hummed with the thrum of countless unseen machines, a constant, pervasive drone.
Rina walked, her pace quickening with each block.
A deep pensiveness consumed her, fueled by the sheer, bewildering reality of Mo’s revealed identity as a scion of a Sacran deity.
Yet, this same man, this being of divine lineage, was a trained assassin, a weapon honed to kill.
He had been poised to off her friends, the people she cherished.
The paradox was a cruel twist of fate.
Mo, the dangerous stranger who had entered her life like a cataclysm, was now her haven, the one person who saw her, beneath all the layers.
Yet, she and he sensed a perilous, untamed shared and exhilarating attraction.
He was her weakness.
She couldn’t get enough of him in and out of bed.
She wasn’t shy to admit it to herself, not anymore.
He stirred a raw, undeniable desire in her.
Add to that the intoxicating thrill of his presence, and she was confident she wanted to explore more.
To delve deeper into the wild, uncharted territory of their connection, while helping him find justice for being used and controlled to commit the worst atrocities.
A chill went down her spine, raising goosebumps on her arms despite the city’s artificial warmth.
The feeling was unmistakable, a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, an unsettling certainty that she was being observed.
She glanced up, her eyes scanning the dizzying array of drones, the ubiquitous holographic sensors that seemed to peer from every corner.
She couldn’t relax here, not with Mo, not with the target on his back.
His handlers, the shadowy organization that controlled him for so long, would come after him once they found he escaped their grasp.
A cold, clear resolve settled over her.
She decided then and there: she would move Mo and herself to her parents’ farm.
It was remote, secluded, a place where the pervasive hum of the city couldn’t reach, where ancient trees and native birds replaced holographic cameras and the drones.
It was the only location where they would be safe.
Rina returned to her apartment, the hiss of the door closing behind her.
She encountered him pacing her living room, like a caged beast, his movements agitated, his energy restless.
The second she walked in, his head snapped up, his eyes dilated, a flicker of raw panic in their depths.
He gave a guttural growl. ‘Where thefokkdid you go?’
‘You needed space, so I provided it to you. What’s wrong?’ she asked, her voice gentle, concerned, but he only growled again, a sound of profound distress.
She crossed the room and wrapped her hands around him from behind.
