The storm didn't just break over Seoul; it exploded. Thunder rolled like the growl of an angry god, echoing the mood inside the black SUV tearing through the streets of Mapo-gu.
Han Jeo sat in the back, his wet blonde hair pushed back, revealing the sharp, predatory lines of his face. He had ditched the silk robe for a black tactical turtleneck that made him look like an assassin rather than a model. He wasn't looking at the city; he was looking at a tablet showing a blinking red dot.
"He's smart," Jeo whispered, a dark, jagged smile playing on his lips. "He's staying off the main roads. He thinks the shadows are his friends."
"He's terrified, Sire," Manager Kim said from the front seat, his eyes fixed on the road.
"There is a difference between being smart and being a cornered animal."
"It's the same thing when I'm the one doing the hunting," Jeo replied. He tapped the screen. "Stop the car here. I'll go the rest of the way on foot. My men are too loud—they'll scare him into traffic."
"And you won't?"
Jeo's hazel eyes bled into a deep, vibrating crimson. "Oh, I'm going to scare the soul right out of him, Kim. That's the best part."
[Taeyul's POV]
My lungs were screaming. Every breath felt like inhaling needles.
The rain was so heavy I could barely see two feet in front of me. I had ducked into a construction site near the river, hiding behind a stack of rusted steel beams. My heart was beating so hard I was afraid the men in suits would hear it through the thunder.
Why me? I pressed my back against the cold metal, sliding down until I hit the muddy ground. I was soaked, shivering, and the exhaustion I had been fighting for years was finally winning. My eyes kept trying to close.
Don't sleep. If you sleep, the man in the shadows will find you.
"You're making this very difficult, Dumbo."
The voice didn't come from the entrance. It came from right above me.
I bolted upright, my head hitting a beam as I looked up. Han Jeo was perched on top of the steel stack, crouched like a gargoyle.
The rain didn't seem to bother him; it just slid off his skin like he was made of marble. He looked down at me, his eyes glowing like two embers in the dark.
"G-get away!" I scrambled backward, tripping over my own feet in the mud.
In a flash—faster than my human eyes could track—he was on the ground. He didn't walk; he blurred. Before I could even scream, he had me pinned against a concrete pillar. His hands weren't gentle this time. He gripped my wrists and slammed them over my head, his body pressing into mine with a heat that felt like a furnace in the cold rain.
"Did you really think you could run from me?" Jeo hissed. He was panting, his breath smelling of expensive mint and something metallic. "I've waited two hundred years for a miracle, and you thought you could just hide in a dumpster and wait for me to go away?"
"I don't belong to you!" I yelled, trying to knee him, but he caught my leg with his own, locking us together.
"You do now," he growled, his face dropping to my neck. He didn't bite, but he licked the raindrops off my skin, his tongue hot and rough. I felt a shiver go down my spine that wasn't from the cold. "You're a brat, Taeyul.
A stubborn, beautiful, irritating bitch. You made me ruin a four-thousand-dollar pillow."
He leaned in, his nose brushing against mine. His red eyes were fading back to hazel, but the intensity didn't leave.
"The game is over. You're coming home.
You're going to lay in that bed, and you're going to let me sleep. If you fight me again, I won't send the cars. I'll just chain you to the headboard. Do you understand?"
I glared at him, my teeth chattering, but the silence was already starting to settle over me. Just being this close to him... the "noise" in my head was dying. My nightmare felt miles away.
"I hate you," I whispered.
Jeo chuckled, a low, slutty sound that vibrated through my chest. He leaned down, his lips ghosting over mine. "I know, sweetheart. You can hate me all you want... as long as you do it from my bed."