~ đź–¤
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The first time Maya saw Elias after that night, really saw him, it wasn't as the boy who haunted the hallways, or the one who kissed like he was trying to break something inside her.
It was the look in his eyes when someone else got too close.
And the cold rage behind it.
They were walking through the courtyard — side by side, his fingers grazing hers, but never fully intertwining. Elias didn't do hand-holding. He did ownership. And Maya was still trying to figure out what that felt like when it stopped being protection and started becoming a cage.
> "Why is he staring at you?" Elias asked quietly.
She looked up. A boy from their class — Jacob — was watching her from the gym entrance. Probably curious. Maybe just polite.
But to Elias, that was enough.
> "He's not staring," Maya said gently. "He just looked over—"
> "He's thinking about what's mine."
> "You don't own me, Elias."
He stopped walking.
> "Don't I?"
She turned to face him, the weight of his words crashing over her like a tide. There was something in his voice—something almost soft—that made it even more dangerous.
> "You let me take you," he said. "You let me mark you, hold you, fill you. That wasn't just surrender, Maya. That was a vow."
She swallowed hard.
> "But you're not a savior," she whispered. "You're… something darker."
His eyes darkened. "I never said I was a good man."
> "You're not a man," she breathed. "You're a monster."
He stepped closer, the space between them vanishing in an instant. He leaned down until their foreheads touched.
> "Then why do you keep coming back to me?"
Her answer didn't come in words.
It came in how her knees trembled. How her breath caught. How her heart pounded like it was still begging for something it shouldn't want.
> "Because I'm not scared of monsters," she whispered. "I was raised by one. I shared a womb with one."
That made him smile. Not kindly.
> "You're not Mira," he said, thumb brushing over her bottom lip. "But she would've hated how much better you wear the darkness."
He kissed her then. Right there in the open. Not like a boyfriend. Not even like a lover.
Like a man reminding the world that this girl was claimed.
And Maya kissed him back — not because it felt safe.
Because it didn't.
It felt like falling down the same stairs Mira had thrown her down in her dreams.
And still, she wanted to keep falling.
---
That night, she woke to find Elias standing at her window.
Not knocking.
Not asking.
Just watching.
> "You shouldn't be here," she whispered.
> "You let me in once," he said. "You never locked it again."
> "That doesn't mean I want—"
> "You do. You just don't know what it means yet."
She let him in.
Not because she believed he was right.
But because she didn't want to face what she'd become when she was alone.
Elias didn't talk much as he climbed into her bed. He didn't undress her. Didn't touch her the way he had before.
He just wrapped himself around her like a shield and a shackle.
And whispered:
> "You belong to me now, Maya. And I don't let go."
She believed him.
Even as she closed her eyes and tried not to admit she never wanted him to.
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đź–¤