The storm hadn't eased.
Rain lashed the cabin walls, fierce and relentless, as if the sky itself was warning them to run. Isabella stood by the fire, her pulse thundering in her ears, staring at the door Damian had disappeared through.
Every second stretched into eternity.
Every crack of thunder made her flinch.
Then…
Gunfire.
It split the night open.
"Damian!" she gasped, rushing to the window.
Through the distorted glass, all she could make out were bursts of light muzzle flashes between trees, shadows darting through the storm.
A scream of tires, another shout in Luca's voice. Then silence.
The kind that comes before disaster.
Her knees weakened. She clutched the edge of the wooden table, breathing hard.
Don't panic. Don't panic.
But the silence pressed harder, suffocating her.
Her hand found the small revolver Damian had given her weeks ago, tucked beneath the couch cushion.
She'd never used it, never wanted to. But tonight she had no choice.
Another flash of lightning lit the room and a figure appeared behind her reflection in the glass.
"Looking for someone, Bella?"
Isabella spun, raising the gun with shaking hands.
A man stood in the doorway, his silhouette blocking out the rain.
Dark clothes. Blood on his sleeve. His smile was all wrong.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice barely holding steady.
The man stepped closer, smirking. "You don't recognize me? Marco sends his love."
Her heart dropped.
Marco.
The rival boss. The one Damian said would come for her.
She pulled the trigger. The gun clicked empty.
He laughed. "Sweetheart, Damian really should've loaded that for you."
Before she could run, he lunged. She screamed, clawing at his arm, knocking over a chair.
He slammed her against the wall, his breath hot and sour against her face.
"Tell me, Bella," he sneered. "Does the Wolf know you cry out his name in your sleep?"
Her hand found the nearest thing to a glass bottle. She swung. It shattered against his jaw. He roared, stumbling back.
She ran.
Her bare feet slapped against the floorboards, heart racing, vision blurring. She threw herself into the narrow hallway and collided with another figure.
Strong hands caught her before she could fall.
"Bella!" Damian's voice. Low, breathless, alive.
She looked up rain dripping down his face, gun in hand, eyes burning with fury.
"He's inside," she gasped.
"I know."
He moved past her, fluid and lethal. Another gunshot cracked through the house. Then another. Then silence again.
When Damian emerged from the hallway, his shirt was torn, his knuckles bloodied. He didn't look at her right away.
He just walked to the fireplace, breathing hard, rain still streaming from his hair.
"Is he..?"
"Dead," Damian said flatly. "But he wasn't alone."
Luca stumbled in through the door, soaked and grim. "We counted three outside. Maybe more is coming."
Damian cursed under his breath. "They tracked us."
"How?" Isabella whispered.
He turned toward her, his gaze unreadable. "Someone told them."
Her heart dropped. "Who?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Luca muttered.
Damian moved to her in three strides. His hand came up, cupping her jaw not rough, but possessive.
"You're not leaving my sight again. Do you understand me?"
She nodded weakly, her pulse trembling beneath his thumb.
He searched her face, the rain still dripping from his lashes, his breath shallow, the wolf barely caged behind his eyes. "You're shaking."
"You almost died," she whispered. "Again."
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "And you almost killed a man."
"I would've," she said, surprising herself.
His smirk faded into something darker. Something proud. "Good."
The sound of thunder rolled through the mountains, and his hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, his forehead pressing to hers. The storm outside felt miles away.
"You're mine to protect," he said quietly. "No one touches what's mine."
Her breath hitched, heart pounding against his chest. "Damian…"
Before she could say more, Luca's voice cut in. "We need to move. Now."
The spell broke. Damian straightened, cold once again. "Get the car ready."
Luca left without another word.
Damian grabbed a duffel bag from beneath the table and tossed it over his shoulder.
Then he turned to Isabella, his expression unreadable but burning with something she couldn't name.
"This place isn't safe anymore," he said. "And until I find out who betrayed us…" His gaze softened, dangerous and tender all at once. "You stay by my side. Always."
Lightning flashed again and for a heartbeat, she saw something in his eyes that wasn't control or fury.
It was fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
And that terrified her more than any gunshot ever could.
The tires screeched against the soaked dirt road as Luca pushed the SUV through the storm.
Wind howled through broken branches, and the headlights cut ghostlike paths through the rain.
Damian sat in the passenger seat, blood drying on his knuckles, his jaw tight as stone.
Isabella was pressed into the backseat, still trembling, clutching the duffel bag like her life depended on it.
Her reflection in the window looked like a stranger wild-eyed, drenched, and dangerous.
"Where are we going?" she shouted over the storm.
"Safehouse," Damian said. "An hour from here."
"Do they know where it is?"
"They shouldn't," Luca said grimly. "But someone told them where we were. Someone close."
The silence that followed was louder than the thunder.
Isabella's chest tightened. The thought that someone inside Damian's circle, someone he trusted, had betrayed them sent a chill down her spine.
Another flash of lightning lit up the road. And then out of nowhere a truck blocked their path.
"Dammit!" Luca slammed the brakes. The SUV skidded sideways, water spraying like shattered glass.
"Ambush!" Damian barked, already reaching for his gun.
Bullets tore through the night. The windshield cracked, the back window exploded. Isabella ducked, heart hammering.
"Stay down!" Damian roared, returning fire.
Luca yanked the wheel, trying to reverse, but another car roared up behind them trapping them in.
"We're boxed in!"
Damian's eyes flicked to Isabella. "When I say run, you run. Don't look back."
"I'm not leaving you!" she shouted.
"You don't get to argue!" His voice cut through the chaos raw, commanding. But beneath it was something else. Fear.
Luca was already out, crouching behind the open door, firing into the darkness. Damian followed, pulling Isabella down low beside the car.
The storm drowned out everything: footsteps, shouting, gunfire. Shadows moved in every direction.
A man came up behind Luca Isabella and saw him first. Her scream caught in her throat. She grabbed the fallen gun beside her and fired.
The man dropped instantly.
Her hands shook, smoke curling from the barrel.
Luca turned, eyes wide. "You just saved my life."
She barely heard him. Her heartbeat was a deafening drum. Damian looked at her really looked.And for the first time, something shifted in his expression.
Pride. Shock. And something dangerously close to admiration.
"Good girl," he murmured.
Before she could breathe, another shot rang out. Damian jerked, falling to his knees.
"Damian!"
Blood bloomed across his shoulder.
"No no no " She crawled to him, pressing her hands over the wound. "Stay with me."
"Isabella.." His voice was tight with pain, but he still managed a smirk. "You're learning too fast."
"Shut up," she snapped through tears. "You're not dying, not now!"
Luca grabbed Damian's other arm, dragging him toward the car. "We have to move!"
She helped pull him inside, her fingers slick with blood.
Luca floored the gas, the SUV fishtailing before it sped into the dark forest road. The truck behind them burst into flames.
The smell of smoke, rain, and gunpowder filled the air.
Isabella pressed her jacket against Damian's wound, her hands trembling. His breathing was shallow, but his eyes never left hers.