I kept running until my lungs started screaming and my vision became dim.
I could pick flashes of strangers' thoughts piercing me like broken glass as I ran through the dim alleys and past streets that were closed.
What's wrong with her?
Crazy woman.
Don't look, don't get involved.
Their thoughts crashed into me like waves.
My legs grew weak with the weight of it all, but I pushed harder, as if I could outpace the voices. The voices weren't just out there; they were also in me.
I rounded the corner, only to be met by a silent, shadowed lane of darkened shops and broken streetlights. I ceased my run. My chest heaved, my ears rang, my hands still shook with the echo of the bone snapping under the man.
Monster.
With the word stuck in my head, I leaned against a wall and squeezed my hands over my ears until I felt like I might burst. "Shut up, shut up!" My scream reverberated in the night, echoing back to me .
A wave pressed at the edge of my awareness; it was not invasive like other minds, just different. Controlled, tempered with restraint. I lifted my head.
There he stood, a broken street lamp casting his coat in shadow, his dark hair was a mess, as if run through frantic hands.
His sculpted face was striking, but his silver-gray eyes reflected an unreadable gaze that held the raw truth of every way I had ever been broken. It's Adrian Kael.
"You look like a mess," he stated.
"Stay away," I croaked, backing further into the wall. My body trembled like a cornered animal desperate for escape. He didn't move closer; he didn't need to. His presence filled the space, wrapping me like smoke.
"You're breaking," he said softly. His voice was low, rough, carrying something I couldn't place. Not pity. Not judgment. More like recognition. I shook my head. "You don't understand."
His eyes burned into mine. "I do."
The dam inside me cracked. My breath hitched, and before I could stop it, the truth spilled.
"I hurt someone. I didn't mean to, I just wanted to stop him, but I broke him. His bones." My throat closed, nausea choking me. My vision became blurry due to tears.
Finally, Adrian took a slow, methodical step forward, as though he were approaching a wild creature he didn't want to startle.
The air changed, heavy with something electric, but he didn't touch me. He whispered, "You're not a monster. You're unmoored. There's a difference."
I laughed bitterly. "Unmoored? I crushed a man's wrist like it was glass."
His gaze didn't waver. "And yet you ran. A monster wouldn't run. A monster wouldn't care." His words slid into all my crevices, gentle and comforting; yet dangerous because I wanted to believe him.
The silence stretched, filled with the weight of unsaid words. My heart pounded, not just from fear, but from the way his presence tethered me, steadied me. Like a storm meeting a mountain.
"I think I'm going crazy, I can't take it anymore," I whispered.
The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile. "I can help you, I'm someone who knows what it's like to hear and see too much."
His words crashed into me like a door thrown open. He knew. He knew. And for the first time since I'd woken reborn, I didn't feel alone.
His words lingered in me, echoing in the hollow where my fear had lived.
Someone who knows what it's like to hear too much. I stared at him, searching his face for cracks, for signs of deception. But all I found was exhaustion etched into sharp angles of his face, a faint tremor in his hands as if he carried the same storm rattling my bones.
"You… you hear them too?" My voice was barely a whisper.
Adrian's eyes softened, just slightly. "I hear flashes of thoughts, see actions, every secret, past and future that people never say aloud. It doesn't stop. Not for me. Not for you either, I imagine."
My knees nearly buckled. Relief hit me like a punch, sharp and overwhelming. I wasn't alone. For the first time since my awakening, the crushing silence of isolation cracked open.
"I thought I was going insane," I murmured. "You're not insane." His voice dipped lower, silk over gravel. "You're alive. Too alive, perhaps."
The words unraveled me. I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady my breathing. He stepped closer, close enough that I felt the heat radiating off his body, though he still didn't touch me. His restraint was intoxicating and terrifying.
"You need grounding," he said softly.
"Something to hold on to. Look at me." I did. His gray eyes pinned me in place, storm, and sanctuary in equal measure.
The chaos in my head dulled, the whispers receding to a bearable hum. Just by focusing on him, I could breathe again.
"You're doing something," I whispered. "No," he murmured. "You are. I'm only here."
I got chills from the way he said it, as if being here with me was a sign of destiny. It tightened in my throat. I wanted to completely lean into him and let him anchor me, but fear nibbled at the edges of my desire.
"What if I hurt you, too?" I asked, voice raw. Something flickered in his gaze, dark and magnetic. "What if I want you to try?" Heat flushed my skin, sharp as a slap.
The air between us thickened, heavy with something I'd only read about in novels, never truly lived.
His eyes stared at my lips for the briefest moment, then snapped back to mine. The restraint in that small movement was devastating. I swayed toward him, the instinct primal and reckless.
For one heartbeat, I let myself imagine it, the taste of his lips, the strength of his hands, the promise of silence in his arms.
Then I heard the sirens.
The wail sliced through the night, cruel and jarring. Blue and red light splashed against the walls of the alley. Adrian stiffened, his jaw tightening.
His hand twitched, almost reaching for me, then curled into a fist at his side.
"They're coming."
I blinked, disoriented. "For me?"
The answer came not from him but from the flood of voices crashing into me again.
The girl in the alley, the one who broke his hand. Look for her and get her before she disappears and hurts someone else. My breath caught. They knew. They were looking for me.
Adrian's eyes locked on mine, fierce and unyielding. "Come with me, if you want to survive. Now."
I replied, "I don't seem to have a choice, do I?"
At this moment, I didn't know if I was running toward my salvation or straight into another mess.