Chapter 23

Tori’s POV

Laura and I couldn’t stop laughing as we walked through the market street, our voices mixing with the noise around us.

It had only been three days and somehow, we had gotten so close it felt unreal. Like I had known her longer than this place, longer than everything I had been through.

Maybe this was how it was meant to be.

Her father and Kael had been busy with whatever serious matters they always seemed to have, leaving just the two of us to wander freely. We explored, we talked, we did things I hadn’t done in a long time.

The market was alive, filled with people moving from stall to stall, voices rising, fabrics swaying in the wind, colors blending into each other. Guards followed behind us at a distance.

I knew they were behind us, but I couldn’t even notice them.

Laura moved easily through it all, like she belonged here.

I had learned a few things about her father. He was wealthy, very wealthy, but held no title, no real power. This town was mostly filled with humans, far from the kind of place Kael came from.

It felt normal.

Like somewhere I could actually stay without feeling like I was suffocating.

Almost everyone there were werewolves, and the ones who weren’t were treated like trash. Isn’t the double standard insane? Kael has someone who is like a father to him, but doesn’t see him as weak even with how incapable he was.

If I ever had the chance to leave Kael, I would definitely come to a place like this.

"Do you think this would look good on me?" Laura asked, holding a fur-lined tunic against herself as she turned slightly.

I looked at her and nodded without hesitation. "It would. It suits you."

Her face lit up immediately as she turned back to the seller. "I’ll take this."

Then her eyes shifted to me. "Do you want one too? I’d love for us to have the same."

My brows lifted instantly. "What? No."

She paused, then scoffed lightly, shaking her head. "So you think I brought you here just to stand around and reject everything I pick for you?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

"Yeah... I do have two," the seller added quickly.

Before I could say anything else, she handed the dress over, already walking away like the decision had been made.

Her guards stepped in to handle the payment, and just like that, it was done.

I let out a quiet breath and followed her, my fingers brushing against the fabric of my dress as we moved through the crowd again.

We kept walking, stopping at different stalls, picking things she liked, laughing over small things.

All of a sudden, my mind drifted to the promise I made to her the first night we had communicated. It slipped back in so suddenly it made my chest tighten.

What if I broke it? What if something happened and I couldn’t control it? Would she walk away from me? Would everything we just built disappear that easily?

This friendship was starting to look so real and I didn’t want to lose it.

My steps slowed slightly before I forced myself to keep up with her.

******

We were heading back to the carriage when the question slipped out before I could stop it. We got everything we wanted already, and I got quite a lot of things for myself. She paid for it all.

It’d have been in a different case if I was my real world. I know what it felt like to be rich and come from a family who had crazy money!

"What was Kael like when he was little?"

Laura turned to me, her expression softening immediately.

"Hmm..." she hummed, smiling to herself. "The first time I saw him, he was really small. Quiet too. He looked so innocent."

I watched her as she spoke, the way her eyes lit up at the memory.

"I didn’t live with my father back then," she continued. "So the few times I visited... that was when I saw him."

She laughed softly.

"I remember crying that day for no reason, and he came up to me and handed me a piece of cake. He didn’t even say anything. He just stood there."

That didn’t sound like the Kael I knew. What happened to him in that little amount of time?

"That’s... nice," I said quietly.

"It really was," she replied, still smiling.

"But you said you didn’t like him," she added after a moment.

I shrugged lightly, looking ahead.

"Whoever he was back then doesn’t change who he is now," I said. "I just wanted to know what he used to be like."

She studied me for a second. "How sure are you that you won’t fall for him?"

I let out a slow breath, my jaw tightening slightly. Not this again. Why would I?

Why would I fall for someone who had watched me bleed, watched me suffer, and didn’t even flinch?

The thought alone made something twist inside me.I didn’t answer her immediately.

A loud sound tore through the air, my hand went to my ears immediately. The entire market went into chaos.

People started screaming, running in every direction. Stalls were pushed over, items scattered across the ground as bodies collided into each other.

My heart jumped straight to my throat.

"What—?!"

Another loud noise echoed, sharper this time, and panic spread faster.

"Laura—"

Someone slammed into me from the side. My body stumbled back, my hand reaching out instinctively, trying to grab her.

I missed.

"Laura!"

My voice got swallowed by the noise.

People kept pushing, shoving, running past me like I wasn’t even there. My shoulder hit someone else, then another. My balance slipped as I struggled to stay on my feet.

My chest tightened, and I couldn’t see her

"Laura!" I tried again, my voice cracking this time as I pushed forward against the crowd.

It was useless.

Everywhere I turned, there were bodies. Faces I didn’t recognize.

My breathing became uneven, my fingers curling as I forced my way through, my eyes searching desperately.

Right in the middle of everything that was going on, there was someone who stood there, unable to move, while everyone else ran, while everything spiraled out of control.

He stood still, our eyes met right there. My heart raced faster on seeing him again and I knew those eyes were not deceiving me right now.

Kieran.