**Chapter 4: The Reflection's Lie**
Seth's reflection was no longer his own.
It happened in flashes—a flicker of too-sharp teeth in the café's bathroom mirror, a shadow writhing behind his eyes in the subway window. The demon was growing restless.
*358 days left.*
Emma noticed first.
"You look tired," she said one morning, sliding a coffee across the counter. The steam curled between them like a question.
Seth gripped the cup too tight. "Haven't been sleeping."
A half-truth. The real nightmare was waking up to his own hands—*were they always that scarred?*—and the whispers slithering from the pocket watch:
*"She'll leave when she knows. They always do."*
Emma hesitated, then reached out, brushing flour from his sleeve. "You know you can talk to me, right?"
Her touch burned. Not with pain, but with something worse: *hope.*
Seth opened his mouth—
—and the café window *shattered*.
Glass rained down as a man in a leather jacket staggered inside, clutching a bleeding arm. "*They're coming,*" he gasped before collapsing.
Emma recoiled. "What the—?"
But Seth was already moving. He knew that jacket. Knew the insignia stitched into the collar—a wolf with bleeding eyes. *His old gang.*
"Emma, *get down*—"
The door burst open. Three men stormed in, knives gleaming. The leader—a hulking figure with a spider tattoo crawling up his neck—grinned. "Well, well. The prince returns."
Seth's blood turned to ice. *Rafe.*
Emma's voice wavered. "Seth…?"
Rafe's laugh was a serrated thing. "Oh, she doesn't *know*? This is rich." He stepped closer, boots crunching glass. "Tell her, *prince*. Tell her how you butchered twelve men in the Wolf's Den. Tell her why you ran."
The demon *cackled* in Seth's skull. *"Now we see her true heart."*
Seth's fists clenched. "Leave her out of this."
"Or what?" Rafe sneered. "You'll kill me too?"
A knife flashed—
—and Seth *moved*.
It was brutal. Efficient. A whirl of broken chairs and shattered bones. When it was over, Rafe sprawled unconscious, his lackeys groaning against the wall.
Silence.
Then—a shaky breath.
Emma stood frozen, her face pale. Not afraid. *Devastated.*
"You *knew* them," she whispered.
Seth's chest cracked open. "Emma—"
"No." She backed away, hands trembling. "Who *are* you?"
The pocket watch *burned*. The demon *rejoiced*.
And Seth realized, too late—
—he should never have let her in.
---
**Preview of Chapter 5:**
- **The Broken Trust:** Emma demands answers, but the truth might destroy her.
- **Demon's Bargain:** The watch offers Emma a *deal*—*"One secret for another."*
- **Seth's Choice:** With the gang hunting him and the curse tightening, Seth must decide: *fight for redemption… or let Emma go to save her.*