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Liana Oris hated surprises, but tonight she wanted to give one.
Snow fell in soft sheets over the quiet street as she stepped out of the taxi, clutching a small red box in her hands. Inside was the bracelet she saved three months to buy—her Christmas Eve gift for the man she thought she loved.
Her boyfriend's apartment lights were on.
Good.
He was home.
Liana smiled, brushing her cold fingers through her hair before pushing the door open with the spare key he gave her.
She didn't expect balloons.
She didn't expect music.
She definitely didn't expect moaning.
Her smile froze.
Slowly, she stepped into the living room—and the world she knew collapsed in one violent heartbeat.
Her boyfriend wasn't alone.
He was pressed against the wall, lips locked with a woman who didn't look human at all. Her silver hair floated like smoke, eyes glowing the brightest shade of violet.
Liana's breath caught.
"Who… who are you?"
The woman turned to her, and the room temperature dropped instantly.
"I am the one he summoned," she said with a smile far too sharp to be gentle. "A witch of the Crescent Order."
Liana stared at her boyfriend.
"You summoned a witch? To cheat?"
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out—because the witch had already lifted her hand.
A circle of violet fire formed in her palm.
"This spell was meant for him," the witch hissed. "To bind him. To own him."
Then her eyes trailed to Liana.
"But now… I prefer you."
The spell shot forward.
Liana screamed—
—but she never felt the impact.
Because something impossible happened.
The air tore open with a violent crack.
The lights flickered.
And a tall man with storm-gray eyes stepped out of the rupture, grabbing the spell mid-air with his bare hand.
The fire died instantly.
The witch stumbled back, terrified.
"You?" she whispered. "Y-You're not supposed to be here—"
His voice was calm. Too calm.
"You tried to bind what belongs to me."
He looked at Liana then—straight into her soul—and she felt her heartbeat stop and start again in the same second.
"Come here," he said to her, not as a command, but like a promise.
Liana didn't know him.
But every part of her body responded, drawn to him like gravity.
"Who… who are you?" her voice trembled.
He stepped closer, eyes glowing faintly under the moonlight leaking through the window.
"I," he said softly, "am Kael Draven. Alpha of the Arcanis Warlocks."
He touched her cheek gently, his presence overwhelming but strangely protective.
"And from this moment…"
His eyes darkened.
"…you are under my protection."
Liana swallowed hard, trembling.
Because Kael Draven didn't look like a savior.
He looked like a storm that had chosen her.