-Raine Archer:
I didn't say a word as Elias and I walked out of the cafeteria.
My heartbeat still thudded in my chest like a slow, deliberate war drum. That guard's face—his arrogance, his venom—still clung to me like oil on the skin.
I hated it. Hated that even with new management, most of these guards still saw the Undercity as a stain instead of a circumstance. Like being born beneath our streets somehow made you less.
I slowed as I heard the low clinking of chains behind us.
They hadn't moved yet.
I turned back, just slightly, and Elias followed my gaze.
The prisoners stood in a loose cluster now, like something unspoken had pulled them together.
The guards must've unclipped the lead chains from Kai's cuffs, allowing him to walk freely inside the cafeteria while still shackled at the wrists and ankles.
He wasted no time. The moment he was released, he strode toward Jaxon—not with urgency, but with something more controlled. More intimate. His shoulders dropped as he got close, his expression shifting into something I hadn't seen from him before.
He leaned down, whispering something against Jaxon's ear. Whatever it was, it made Jaxon lift his head for the first time that day. A small nod. Barely there.
Kai smiled.
Not smug. Not sly.
Warm.
Then—he held him. Both of his shackled hands came forward and wrapped around the much taller man's back.
The chains clinked quietly as metal brushed against the fabric of Jaxon's shirt. But Jaxon didn't move. He didn't recoil. He just stood there—still as ever—but no longer quite so… alone.
Elias made a small sound next to me. "Wait. What the hell?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
Because something strange was happening.
Damon and Luca—who hadn't moved from their spot during the entire incident—suddenly stepped forward. Not in a rush, not to protest anything. They just… gathered.
Around him.
Around Jaxon.
It was like watching the pieces of a puzzle click into place without knowing what the final picture was supposed to be.
Damon moved to Jaxon's left, his arms crossed but his stance unmistakably protective.
Luca, with that easy stride and a slight tilt to his mouth, came around to the other side. He didn't say a word either. Just stood there, close enough to touch if he needed to.
They weren't guarding him.
They were orbiting him.
And Jaxon stood in the middle of them like a pillar—silent, unmoving, but no longer unseen.
Elias exhaled sharply beside me. "Okay, what the actual—are they like… worshipping him or something?"
I glanced sideways at him. "I don't think it's worship."
"What, then?"
"I don't know," I murmured. "But… he's more than just their muscle."
Elias didn't say anything after that. Neither did I.
We just stood there—watching them exist in a way that felt deeply personal. Deeply loyal. And entirely unlike anything we'd expected from four captured half-demons from the Undercity.
Eventually, the cafeteria guards began barking orders again, telling them to line up by the far wall for food service.
The four shifted away from one another slowly, deliberately. Damon gave one last glance toward Elias—brief, unreadable—and followed the others without argument.
Jaxon returned to that eerie silence, head down, gaze averted.
But I saw it now.
I saw it.
The others may have talked, snapped, threatened, or glared—but he was the center of their gravity. The silent constant. The one they all looked to.
And I had a feeling that beneath all that stillness, something was very awake.
And watching.
Elias and I should've walked away.
Our shift was over. We had no reason to stay here. The prison guards and our team members would handle the rest, moving the prisoners through their schedule—food, bathroom, back to their cells. That was their job, not ours.
And yet, neither of us moved.
I glanced at Elias, expecting him to tug me toward the exit, but he just stood there, arms crossed, gaze locked on the four prisoners as they took their food trays and sat down at the farthest table in the cafeteria. He was watching them like they were an equation he hadn't solved yet.
Maybe because they were.
"Let's stay a little longer," I muttered under my breath.
Elias didn't argue.
We took a step back into the shadows of the observation area. Not completely hidden, but enough to blend in with the movement of guards and officers walking in and out. Enough that, maybe, we wouldn't be noticed.
We were wrong.
Because he noticed.
Damon.
His back was to us when he sat down, but as soon as he picked up his utensils, he turned his head—slowly, deliberately—and looked right at me.
I stiffened.
His red eyes flickered under the dull prison lights, catching reflections that weren't there, like liquid metal shifting beneath the surface. He didn't move, didn't speak. Just stared.
I swallowed, but I didn't look away.
Then—just as slow, just as deliberate—his gaze slid past me. Past my shoulder.
To Elias.
Elias, who had been shifting his weight lazily a moment ago, suddenly went rigid.
I felt the way his body tensed beside me, the way his breathing changed—not startled, not afraid, but… something. Something between unease and confrontation.
Damon didn't blink.
Didn't smirk. Didn't look smug or playful or irritated.
He just… watched.
Like we were a puzzle he hadn't solved yet.
I exhaled quietly through my nose. "He's doing it again."
Elias didn't answer.
I turned my head slightly toward him, keeping my voice low. "You see it too, don't you?"
Elias made a quiet, dry sound—almost a laugh, but not quite. "Oh, trust me. I see it."
I looked back at Damon. He was still watching us.
His food was untouched. His utensils rested loosely in his hands as if eating was an afterthought. The others—Luca, Kai, and Jaxon—were eating like normal prisoners, heads down, focused on the food in front of them.
But Damon?
No.
Damon was feeding himself something else entirely.
He was watching us.
Studying. Memorizing.
I took a slow breath. "Why does it feel like he's… having a conversation neither of us can hear?"
Elias exhaled sharply. "Because I think he is."
A chill ran down my spine.
We should've walked away.