Flirting with the dark, p.3
Flirting With the Dark, page 3
He swallowed.
“And the reason I can’t stay away.”
Rowan rose from her chair, heart pounding. “Elias... what am I?”
He stared at her for a long, agonizing moment.
Then he reached up — slowly, like he was afraid she might break — and brushed a strand of wet hair from her cheek.
His thumb lingered just barely against her skin.
“You,” he said, voice a whisper of truth, “are the one light the dark wasn’t supposed to touch.”
The room went still.
Quiet.
Charged.
Dangerous.
Before she could ask anything else, something slammed against the cabin’s back wall — hard.
Both their heads snapped toward the sound.
Elias’s eyes darkened instantly.
“It found us again,” he said.
Rowan’s blood turned to ice.
“And this time,” Elias whispered, stepping between her and the sound, “it won’t stop at knocking.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The cabin didn’t just shake. It shuddered, like something outside wanted in badly enough to break the walls apart.
Rowan stumbled back as the impact echoed through the wood, rattling cups in the kitchen and sending dust drifting from the rafters.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Elias didn’t answer.
Because he already knew.
His body changed — subtly, but unmistakably. His posture tightened. His breathing slowed. His eyes narrowed sharply, focusing on a point behind the back wall Rowan couldn’t see.
He stepped in front of her without hesitation, positioning himself between her and the danger outside.
“Stay behind me,” he murmured.
Another slam.
Harder.
This time the floorboards trembled beneath Rowan’s feet.
She clutched the charm at her throat instinctively. It felt hotter now — no longer cold metal but something pulsing, almost alive.
Elias noticed. His gaze flicked to it, then up to her eyes.
“You feel it,” he said softly. “Don’t you?”
Rowan swallowed. “Yes. What does that mean?”
“It means—”
He cut off as a guttural growl reverberated through the wall, deep and unnatural.
“—it’s awakening.”
Her blood turned to ice. “What is?”
Before Elias could answer, a low scraping sound ran along the outside of the cabin — like claws dragging across the wood.
Then a second sound.
Heavier.
Closer.
A thud against the back door that made it bow inward at the hinges.
Rowan sucked in a breath. “Elias—”
He held out a hand.
Not back at her — forward. Toward the door.
And for a split, impossible moment... the shadows in the room shifted toward him.
Like they recognized him.
Answered him.
Rowan stared, heart pounding. “Elias... what are you?”
He didn’t turn around. “Something that was never meant to get close to you.”
The back door strained again, hinges squealing. Rowan backed up until her spine hit the kitchen counter.
Another slam.
A crack splintered through the wood.
“Tell me what’s out there!” Rowan demanded, voice shaking.
Elias’s shoulders rose in a slow breath.
“It’s a seeker,” he said. “Drawn to whatever light is strongest in the dark.”
“That doesn’t mean anything!”
“It means it shouldn’t be coming after you.”
He turned then, eyes burning with something fierce and unguarded.
“It means you’re not ordinary, Rowan. Not even close.”
She shook her head. “I’m nothing special.”
“You are to it.”
A pause.
“And to me.”
The admission hit harder than the storm.
Before she could respond, the back door exploded inward.
Wood flew.
Rain poured in.
The shape in the doorway was wrong — elongated limbs, hunched body, movements like a nightmare trying to crawl into the waking world.
Rowan screamed.
The creature let out a gravelly, snarling sound that rattled the dishes on the shelves. Its eyes — sunken, pale, empty — locked onto her instantly.
Elias moved.
Not like a man.
Not like anything human.
One moment he stood in front of her, the next he was across the room, grabbing the shattered door and slamming it shut with a force that shook the cabin.
“Rowan!” he barked. “Stay behind me!”
She didn’t argue. Couldn’t.
The creature rammed the door again, claws scraping wildly, trying to shove its way in. Elias braced against it, muscles straining, rain pouring around him as the door buckled with every hit.
Rowan’s hands shook as she clutched the charm — and it burned suddenly, a flash of heat shooting up her arm.
She gasped.
Elias whipped his head toward her, eyes widening.
“Rowan — don’t let go of it. Whatever you do.”
“It hurts,” she hissed.
“It’s supposed to.”
The creature screeched — a sound like tearing metal — and shoved the door inward another inch.
Elias roared back at it, low and furious, a sound no human throat should be able to make. For a heartbeat, the creature hesitated.
Then it lunged.
The door blasted inward again, knocking Elias backward. The thing clawed its way over the threshold, hunched and snarling, dragging itself forward—
Right toward Rowan.
She stumbled back, heart exploding in her chest.
Elias was up instantly, grabbing the creature by the back and hurling it into the wall with a crack that shook the ground. Rain whipped into the kitchen. Wind roared. The creature writhed, snarling, limbs twitching unnaturally.
“Get OUT,” Elias growled.
It didn’t listen.
It lunged again.
Rowan screamed — and the charm around her neck ignited with a burst of white light so bright it lit the entire cabin.
Elias threw an arm over his eyes.
The creature screamed — high, keening, furious — and was thrown backward by the force of the light, slamming into the broken doorway and tumbling outside into the storm.
The light flared... then vanished.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Unnatural.
Elias lowered his arm slowly.
Rowan stood frozen, chest heaving, the charm still warm against her skin.
Elias stared at her like he had never seen anyone like her — not in this world or any other.
“Rowan...” he breathed.
She swallowed hard, voice breaking. “What just happened to me?”
Elias stepped closer — slow, cautious, reverent.
“Your light woke up,” he said softly.
“And now every dark thing in this town can feel you.”
Her pulse stuttered. “Is that why it attacked?”
Elias shook his head once.
“No,” he whispered. “It attacked because I’m not the only one who felt you first.”
Rowan’s breath caught.
“What does that mean?”
His jaw tightened.
“It means,” Elias said, eyes burning into hers,
“you were never meant to belong to the dark—
but it wants you anyway.”
CHAPTER SIX
Rowan wasn’t sure what scared her more—
the thing that attacked her...
or the way Elias was looking at her now.
Not fearful.
Not confused.
Like he was staring at something impossible.
Something sacred.
Something forbidden.
His breath still came rough from the fight. His clothes were torn, rain-slick, streaked with mud that didn’t belong in human battles. But his eyes—God, his eyes—were locked on her with a fierce intensity that made her chest tighten.
“Elias,” she whispered, voice trembling, “I need the truth. All of it. No more half-answers. No more warnings. No more disappearing.”
His jaw flexed. He ran a hand through his wet hair, pacing once like he was gathering himself, fighting something inside him.
“You’re asking for something dangerous,” he said quietly.
“Everything about tonight has been dangerous.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
He stopped in front of her, close enough that she could see rain still clinging to his eyelashes.
“You’re asking me to break a vow,” he said, voice almost a whisper. “One I’ve kept my entire life.”
“Then break it,” Rowan said, breath shaking. “Because I can’t survive this if I don’t know what I am.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped.
He stepped back.
Not from fear.
From restraint.
“Fine,” he said, voice low. “You want the truth? Then listen carefully. Because once you know... it can’t be taken back.”
Rowan nodded, heart pounding.
Elias exhaled slowly, then spoke.
“You’re a flare.”
She blinked. “A what?”
“A flare,” he repeated. “A rare kind of light-born. A human with a dormant power inside them—power that calls to the dark whether you want it to or not.”
Rowan shook her head. “That can’t be me. I’m—”
“Ordinary?” he finished.
His eyes softened—just slightly.
“No. You never were.”
Her throat tightened. “How long have you known?”
He hesitated. “Years.”
Rowan froze.
“Years?” she whispered. “You knew about me before I ever came here?”
Elias didn’t move. Didn’t blink.
“I was assigned to you,” he said quietly. “Before you were old enough to understand what you were. Before either of us knew what we’d become to each other.”
Her stomach dropped. “Assigned... to watch me?”
“To protect you,” he corrected. “To keep the dark from finding you before your light awakened.”
“And now it has,” she said, touching the charm. “Tonight.”
Elias nodded. “Those creatures—the seekers—they’re drawn to energy. To power. And when your light opened, even for a heartbeat...”
He shook his head.
“The entire forest felt it.”
Rowan’s breath hitched. “So that thing came for me because—”
“Because it wants to consume you,” Elias said softly. “Your light is pure. Untainted. A flare’s light can absorb a seeker. Feed it. Strengthen it.”
A sharp chill raced through Rowan’s spine.
“Feed it?”
“Yes,” Elias said gently. “They hunt flares first.”
She swallowed hard. “Okay. Then what about you? What are you?”
Elias looked away.
The storm howled outside, windows rattling.
When he finally answered, his voice was low, heavy.
“I’m what happens when the dark touches light... and doesn’t destroy it.”
Rowan stared at him, silent.
He continued.
“I’m not human.”
His eyes lifted to hers, dark and vulnerable.
“But I’m not like them either. I was born of a dark line—shadow-born—but I carry light inside me. Just enough to keep the darkness from consuming me.”
Her breath caught.
“And your vow?” she whispered.
He stepped closer.
So close she could feel the heat of him.
“My vow was to never interfere. To never get close to you. To never let you feel what I feel.”
His voice trembled—just barely.
“To protect you from afar. And nothing more.”
Rowan’s chest tightened painfully.
“Why?”
“Because flares burn bright,” he whispered. “And shadow-born like me... burn with them. We don’t get to want what we want.”
He looked away, pained.
“Not without consequences.”
The confession hung in the air like electricity.
Rowan took a slow step toward him. “What consequences?”
Elias’s voice dropped to a near growl.
“If I get close to you, the dark feels it. It hunts harder. Faster. Stronger.”
She swallowed.
“And if you stay away?”
His expression darkened.
“Then it gets you first.”
Another slam hit the back of the house. Both of them stiffened—but Rowan’s eyes stayed on Elias.
She reached out without thinking and touched his arm.
He closed his eyes at the contact—like it hurt.
Or like it soothed something deep inside him.
“Elias,” she whispered, “I don’t care about your vow. I care about staying alive. And right now... you’re the only one who knows how to protect me.”
He opened his eyes.
And for the first time since she’d met him, Elias didn’t look conflicted.
He looked certain.
“Then listen carefully,” he said, stepping so close their breath mingled. “From this moment on... you don’t go anywhere without me. Not into town. Not into the woods. Not into your own yard.”
Her heart hammered.
“And you don’t open your door,” Elias added. “Not even for me—unless I speak your name twice.”
“Why twice?”
“Because the dark imitates voices,” he said quietly. “But it can’t mimic a vow.”
Another crash shook the siding.
Elias moved in front of her again, muscles coiled.
Rowan clutched the charm.
“Elias,” she breathed, “will it stop?”
He didn’t look back as he answered.
“No.”
His voice was low, dangerous, certain.
“Not until it takes you—
or until I destroy every damn thing hunting you.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The dark didn’t wait.
It came back hungry.
Another violent slam rattled the cabin’s siding. This time, the force made the entire wall bow inward for a breath before snapping back into place.
Rowan flinched. Elias didn’t.
He moved with sudden precision, grabbing her wrist and pulling her behind him so fast she barely had time to inhale. His hand was warm, grounding, but charged with a tension that wasn’t entirely fear.
“Stay close to me,” he ordered.
“I am close to you—”
“Closer.”
She stepped until the front of her body brushed his back. Elias exhaled sharply, stiffening.
Not from discomfort.
From the strain of keeping himself in control.
Another smash hit the cabin — this time higher, like something scaling the wall. Claws scraped down the roof. Rowan covered her ears instinctively.
“Tell me what to do!” she shouted.
“Don’t run,” Elias said. “Don’t scream. And don’t let go of the charm.”
“What does it do?”
“You’ll find out,” he murmured.
That was not reassuring.
The scraping stopped suddenly.
Rowan held her breath.
A moment of quiet.
Too quiet.
“Elias?” she whispered.
He lifted his chin slightly, listening — muscles tightening under his torn shirt.
“It’s above us,” he said.
Something heavy shifted directly over their heads.
Rowan’s stomach dropped. “Is it trying to get in through the roof?”
“Yes.”
“Can it?”
“Eventually.”
She swallowed. “Eventually as in... minutes? Or hours?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Which meant minutes.
He spun toward her then, tension written through every line of his body.
“Rowan,” he said, voice low and urgent, “I need you to trust me.”
“I am trusting you—”
“No. I mean really trust me.”
“I—” She hesitated. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means,” he said, stepping closer, “that I’m going to get you out of this cabin. And to do that, I need to use my full strength.”
“That sounds good—use it—”
He shook his head once, jaw tight.
“You don’t understand. When I use it... I’m not fully in control.”
Rowan’s breath stalled. “Of yourself?”
He nodded slowly.
“Of the shadow inside me.”
The roof groaned dangerously. Dust drifted from the ceiling.
“And if you lose control?” Rowan whispered.
Elias stared at her, eyes dark and burning.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said immediately.
Then, quieter:
“But you might not like what you see.”
Something primal crashed onto the roof again, cracking a beam. Rowan flinched. Elias reached out without thinking, cupping the side of her face briefly — a single moment of grounding contact.
“Rowan,” he murmured, “I need you to say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you trust me.”
Her heart hammered so hard it hurt.
She swallowed.
Met his eyes.
And whispered:
“I trust you.”
Something inside him broke open at that word.
He exhaled — shaky, relieved, terrified.
And then it began.
The lights flickered.
The air thickened.
The shadows in the corners stretched outward—reaching for Elias as if they recognized him.
Rowan stepped back instinctively. Elias grabbed her hand.
“Don’t pull away,” he warned. “If you break contact, the shadow will think you’re a threat.”
“Love that for me,” she muttered, gripping his hand tighter.
