Arashi wrinkled his nose as he walked the streets of Bridgeport. “Think he could have picked a place that smelled marginally better? It smells like a rat died here, and then someone ate the dead rat and died too.”Selene ignored him. It was his fourth attempt to engage her in conversation since the warehouse incident. She couldn't still be mad at him, could he? He grimaced. She could. In fact, she was showing him that she truly was. The Greek diner was sandwiched between two larger buildings at the end of an alley. It had been there since the seventies. The neon sign at the entrance was missing letters, the vinyl booths were patched with duct tape, and the counter had to have seen better days. No, decades. The sky overhead was a clear blue, and Chicago was abuzz with activity around them. It still surprised him that the underworld could exist in the same space as this seemingly normal city, but he was coming to appreciate that he was now living a new life. A different one. Rue was

The howl faded into the lake wind, but it was instantly swallowed by the city's hum. The sound was ambient, and the howl went unnoticed. Arashi remained where he was on the kitchen floor. His nose had stopped bleeding, and the blood on the linoleum was drying, turning into a tacky mess. He should clean it up. He should stand and do something other than sit there with his father's voice still echoing in his skull.But Arashi couldn't. Our humanity is what makes us effective monsters.Arashi pressed his forehead harder against his knees. He remained there for a long time, silence pressing against him.After what felt like forever, the front door opened. Arashi didn't look up. He knew who it was. He recognised the footsteps. They were light, unhurried, and Arashi listened as Selene took four paces to clear the entry, two breaths to assess the room. The footsteps stopped. He didn't turn to look. "You're on the floor.""Observant." His mouth felt like tar. He didn't look up, but he

That evening, Rue visited the safehouse and brought a photograph.He set it on the kitchen table without comment, and Arashi picked it up. The glossy paper was smooth under his thumb, still holding a faint chemical tang of developing fluid.It showed Cassian younger than in the recording, in his late twenties, maybe. He was standing on a balcony somewhere warm, the ocean behind him, his shirt half‑unbuttoned and his hair windswept. He was laughing at something off‑camera, a big smile stretched across his face. Arashi's heart ached. This man looked nothing like the cold monster who’d cut Lucas’s throat.“That was taken in Santorini,” Rue said. He paused, his jaw working for a moment before he went on. “Twelve years before you were born, boyo. He was there to negotiate a shipping contract. Instead, Cassian… he fell in love with a local fisherman’s daughter and almost didn’t come back.” A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.”Arashi stared at the photograph. “What happened

The foreign rage still had his limbs when the air changed.One moment he was swinging the bat through a red haze, blood sliding in slow lines down his ribs, the three attackers recoiling from his feral rush.The next, Selene was simply there in the ruined doorway. The wrath that had seized him shrank back into the pit of his stomach, leaving his muscles shaking and hollow.Awe hit him like a physical force.She covered the distance between her and the knife-man. A fluid half-turn, her forearm deflecting the blade, a snake-strike to the wrist that sent the knife spinning across the linoleum. Her other hand was already at his throat, a short, ugly blow that folded him with a choked, wet sound. He hit the floor and didn’t move.“Fuck,” someone cursed. The big one lunged, arms wide to crush. Selene flowed sideways, a step no wider than a breath, caught his momentum, and redirected his skull into the lip of the counter. The crack of bone on granite was almost disrespectful. He slid down

Selene stepped closer. She bent to examine the mark, and Arashi watched her as the skin tightened around her eyes. Then she met his gaze and gave a small shake of her head.“Tie him up,” she said, her voice flat. “Rue will want to question him.”Arashi finished securing the zip ties and straightened, pressing a palm against his temple. The pressure was a hot spike now, driving in from both sides, and he fought to keep his breathing even.Selene watched him. “You’re hurt.”“I’m fine.” He wasn’t. The tattoo seemed to burn at the corner of his eye, even when he looked away. “The mark. You recognized it.”She said nothing.“Selene.” He turned to face her fully, the prisoner forgotten between them. The basement felt suddenly too small, the concrete walls pressing in. “What aren’t you telling me?”For a long moment, she didn’t answer. The silence stretched, heavy as the lake fog. Then she spoke.“That tattoo is a pack mark. It means he belongs to someone. Something.” She paused. “It’s not h