Sarafina POV
I surfaced slowly, like I was clawing my way out of deep water.
My head throbbed. My chest burned. The floor under my cheek was cold, or maybe I was cold. Everything felt wrong.
A voice reached me first.
"—Safina, come on. Look at me. Hey—look at me."
Cassian.
I forced my eyes open.
He was kneeling over me, face pale, hair disheveled, eyes darker than I'd ever seen them. His hands hovered near my arms like he wanted to touch me but didn't trust himself not to break something.
"Cass…" My voice cracked. "What… happened?"
His throat bobbed. "You blacked out. Your whole apartment—"
He exhaled sharply, shaking his head.
"It doesn't matter. We need to move. Now."
Move?
I blinked, trying to make sense of anything. My room looked… destroyed.
The lamp shattered.
Books everywhere.
The mirror split in half. The neon outside still flickered in uneven bursts.
"Did I—"
I swallowed hard. "Did I do this?"
Cassian froze.
That was all the answer I needed.
Fear curled inside my stomach like a fist.
"I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't—"
"Hush." He grabbed my shoulders, steady but careful. "Stop apologizing. You're hurt. You need to breathe."
But I couldn't.
Because as soon as I tried, I heard something outside—
Boots.
Multiple sets.
Heavy, coordinated.
My blood ran cold.
Hunters.
Cassian's eyes snapped toward the door, jaw tightening. I'd never seen him look like that—sharp, dangerous, calculated.
"Cassian," I whispered. "Why are they—"
"Because of the flare," he muttered under his breath, almost too soft to hear. "They felt it. I knew it. I knew they'd come."
Flare?
Felt what?
What was happening to me?
Before I could ask, a fist pounded against my door.
"OPEN UP. HUNTER DIVISION."
I flinched so hard Cassian caught me before I hit the floor again.
A second voice:
"We know someone powered-up in there. Scan shows a surge."
A third:
"Protocol 17. Subject must be subdued." Subdued? Subject? Me?
My lungs squeezed painfully.
"They think I'm….."
I couldn't finish the sentence.
Cassian's face shifted into something fierce.
Something protective.
Something almost… lethal.
"You're not going anywhere with them."
His voice was low and steady.
"I won't let them touch you." "I will rather die." He continued.
He stood.
I tried to grab his wrist. "Cassian—don't. They're hunters. They'll kill you."
A humorless smile flickered across his lips.
"You don't know me as well as you think."
Before I could protest, he stepped between me and the door just as it shook violently again.
"LAST WARNING!"
Cassian crouched slightly, muscles coiling.
I'd seen him fight before—break up dumb bar scuffles, shove off creepy men who touched my friends—but this was different.
He wasn't scared.
He was ready.
"Cassian….please…..let's just talk to them—"
He threw me a look that stopped the words in my throat.
"Trust me."
The door crashed open.
Three hunters surged inside—armed, armored, eyes hard.
Everything happened too fast to process:
Cassian moved first—quicker than I'd ever seen him—knocking the first hunter into the wall with brutal efficiency.
The second lunged toward me.
I screamed.
Cassian intercepted, slamming his arm across the man's throat before sending him sprawling over my bed.
"Sarafina, stay down!" he shouted over the chaos.
I pressed myself against the wall, trembling, helpless, useless.
The third hunter raised a weapon—
not a gun— a metal rod etched with glowing lines.
"Target identified," he barked. "Neutralize!"
Cassian's eyes went ice cold.
Something crackled—
A rush of wind—
A flash of silver—
And the hunter flew backward as if an invisible force had slammed into him.
He hit the hallway wall with a sickening thud.
I stopped breathing.
Cassian stood in the wreckage of my doorway, chest rising and falling, shoulders tense, eyes burning with something I didn't recognize.
Power.
My best friend— my easy-going, gentle Cassian— looked like someone else entirely.
He turned to me, voice softening immediately.
"Sarafina. We need to go. More are coming."
"I….I can't stand," I whispered.
He was at my side in a heartbeat, lifting me carefully, like I was something fragile. His arms were warm, steady, a barrier between me and the world.
"Cassian… what are you?" I breathed.
His grip tightened.
He didn't answer.
Because down the hallway, more footsteps thundered—
and the hunt wasn't over.