Kael didn't believe in distractions.Distractions got you killed.Made you sloppy. Weak. Vulnerable.
But lately…One girl had been messing with his focus.
He watched her again from across the street. She didn't know. She never noticed.She was too busy helping someone carry books. Smiling. Always smiling.Like nothing in this world was broken.
Alea.
That name shouldn't matter.But it did.
She was everything he wasn't.Warmth. Light. Simplicity.
Kael didn't understand it—didn't want to understand it. But there was something about her that pulled him in.Every time she laughed, something in his chest moved.And that scared the hell out of him.
"Kael."One of his men broke his thoughts.
"We've got news. Black Fangs moved into the West Bridge last night. Rayzen was leading."
Kael's jaw tightened.
Rayzen.That name always tasted like blood.
"What else?" he asked.
The guy hesitated. "They say... he's been seen near Alea."
A pause.A beat.
The silence between Kael and the world stretched into something sharp.
He looked back toward Alea in the distance.Unaware. Untouched.Still perfect.
But Rayzen's shadow had already found her.
Kael crushed the cigarette in his palm without flinching.
"She's not his."
The words weren't loud.But the promise in them was.
Kael turned around, cold fury simmering beneath his calm expression.
If Rayzen wanted war again—He'd get it.
But this time, it wasn't about turf.
This time,It was personal.