Chapter 368

“No, Katherine,” I said, my hand resting over my heart, where the echo of his presence hummed beneath my shirt. “It feels like a shield.”

I walked out before she could respond, leaving her alone in the gloom.

Stepping out of the townhouse felt like surfacing from deep water. The air on the street was cool and clean.

Dallas was leaning against the black SUV, arms crossed over his chest. The moment he saw me, he pushed off the vehicle, his dark eyes scanning me for injuries. He met me halfway, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my neck. He inhaled deeply, a low growl rumbling in his chest when he found nothing but my own scent.

“Let’s go home,” I whispered against his chest.

“Gladly.” He opened the car door for me.

As I turned to climb in, a movement across the street caught my eye.

There was an old newsstand on the corner, half-shadowed by its awning. Standing there, dressed in a dirty, ill-fitting trench coat, was a man. His hair was matted, his jaw hidden beneath a thick, unkempt beard — but I would have known those eyes anywhere.

Braydon.

He looked like a Rogue. The polished, arrogant heir had vanished, replaced by a desperate, feral creature. His gaze was locked on me, burning with a toxic mixture of longing and hatred. He took a step forward, his lips moving as if calling my name, the sound swallowed entirely by the noise of the city.

My heart hammered against my ribs. I needed to tell Dallas.

But before I could speak, Braydon’s phone buzzed in his hand.

He looked down at the screen.

In an instant, the hatred drained from his face, replaced by sheer, primal terror. His skin went gray. He stared at the phone as though it were a viper coiled to strike. He looked back at me one last time — not with obsession, but with the panic of a hunted animal — and then he turned and sprinted away, swallowed by the crowd.

“Adella?” Dallas’s voice was sharp. His hand settled on the small of my back. “What is it? Your heart rate just spiked.”

I looked at the empty corner where Braydon had been. If I told Dallas, he would tear the city apart hunting him down. The peace we had built would shatter before nightfall. Not today. I couldn’t face Braydon Hyde today.

“Nothing,” I lied, forcing a smile as I climbed into the SUV. “Just a shadow. I thought I saw something, but it was a trick of the light.”

Dallas narrowed his eyes, his wolf clearly unconvinced, but he nodded slowly and climbed in beside me. As the car pulled away from the curb, I couldn’t shake the image of Braydon’s face.

He hadn’t been afraid of Dallas. He had been afraid of whatever was on that screen.

And that terrified me far more than any threat he could have shouted.