The city's pulse quickened with her own. Ezzy pressed deeper into the alley's shadows, the damp brick cold against her back, her breath sharp in her chest. The shard inside her thrummed like a second heartbeat, furious at her defiance. Caspian's presence pressed harder through the bond, a storm of cold thought and sharpened hunger.
You cannot run from me.
Ezzy smiled, though her lips trembled. Watch me.
She pushed against the tether, not away from him but through him, tugging on the thread of shadow lodged in her core. The effect was immediate: Caspian staggered, his focus jolted. For the first time, she felt him stumble.
The bond inverted. She wasn't being dragged — she was pulling.
Ezzy stepped out of the alley and into the neon-lit street, letting the shard flare just enough to leave a trail. She wanted him to follow. She wanted him to feel the leash tighten.
Above, on the rooftops, she sensed his fury ignite. His thoughts lashed at her like knives: You don't know what you're doing. You'll burn us both.
"Then burn," she whispered, and pushed harder.
The city responded. Auras flared around her — startled, confused, drawn to the sudden ripple of power. Ezzy felt them like sparks against her skin, but she kept moving, weaving through the crowd, forcing Caspian to chase her through the Lower West Side.
And then she felt it: not him, not the shard, but others.
Predators.
Their attention brushed against her aura like cold fingers. Not human, not ordinary. Hunters who had been waiting for Caspian's weakness — and now smelled it in her.
Ezzy's stomach dropped. She wasn't just bait. She was the prize.
She ducked into the subway, the stale air thick with echoes of a thousand emotions. The shard inside her pulsed, eager, hungry, but she clamped down on it. She had to stay sharp.
On the platform, she caught a glimpse of movement — a figure watching her from across the tracks. A woman in a long coat, her aura a strange, fractured shimmer, like shards of glass catching light.
The woman smiled, and Ezzy felt the shard inside her recoil.
Not Caspian. Not human. Something else.
The train roared into the station, drowning the moment in noise and light. Ezzy stepped aboard, her pulse hammering. She didn't know who the woman was, but she knew one thing with absolute clarity:
The hunt had reversed. And she was no longer just running from Caspian.
---