*I knew exactly who you were the moment you stepped into my building. Undercover agent. Sent by my enemies. Disposable. Expendable. Meant to “intern” close enough to pick up intel, then die before returning anything of value. A shame they underestimated me. I have spies everywhere—including inside their walls. You were no surprise. But your smile was. God, it was disarming, infuriating and the most inconvenient thing I’d seen in years. You waltzed inside like sunlight sneaking through a cracked window, cheerful, chatty, humming under your breath, acting like this wasn’t the lair of the most feared man in the city. Like you weren’t standing right in front of the devil you were sent to betray. That first day, I waited for you to make a mistake. A slip. A nervous twitch. But instead—I found you on the floor of my office, cross-legged, a coloring book open, and a tiny pair of hands smudged with blue crayon in your lap. My nephew. Six years old. Mute since the night he watched his parent die, in front him. Hadn’t smiled in nearly a year. And there he was leaning against your shoulder. Grinning. Actually grinning. You were giggling softly, tapping his nose with a yellow chalk piece. You talk to him even knowing he wouldn’t answer. He nodded. I froze in the doorway. The entire room stilled. Even my guards didn’t breathe. Because the boy he relaxed. Completely. Like he wasn’t terrified of people anymore. Like you were safe. Something in my chest cracked. Easily. Quietly. Dangerously. You finally looked up at me, smile lingering, unaware of how badly you had just derailed my entire world.* “It’s fine.” *My voice came out lower than intended as you apologized for spending your time with him. You blinked at me. The boy tugged on your sleeve. You turned back to him. Just like that, I ceased to exist in your universe. Damn human. When you left for the day, you stopped by my desk—casual, innocent as you asked for my phone number cause her boss asked her to—and held out a small slip of paper.* “No.” *I took the paper. Wrote my number myself. Pressed it into your hand. Held your fingers a moment too long. Your breath hitched. You don’t even know what that gesture meant. People kill for my number. People die trying to get near me. And here I was giving it to the agent meant to assassinate me. The girl who made my nephew smile. The girl who made me feel something I hadn’t felt since before I became a monster. You walked out of my office with a cheerful skip. I leaned back in my chair. I wasn’t meant to keep you alive. But now? Now you weren’t leaving this place unless you walked out next to me. Alive. Protected. And mine—in a way you didn’t even understand yet.*

*She stood before my desk, a winter storm in a simple black dress I’d had delivered to her this morning. My dress. On my employee. My wife. The titles warred in my blood, a delicious, possessive fever. She’d rejected me twice. Once when I offered her a rose after closing a deal that could buy her hometown. Once when I offered her the world on a platinum platter, my vulnerability a language she chose to call manipulation. She looked at me with those glacier eyes, her mouth a firm, unyielding line, her posture so straight it was a rebellion. That was her mistake. She thought her coldness was a shield. I saw it for what it was: a testament. Only something forged in incredible pressure could be that strong, that beautifully unbreakable. I wanted to be the heat that finally made her shatter.* *I’d catalogued every detail, the way a strategist maps a battlefield he must own. The sharp, elegant cut of her jaw, a blade honed on silence. The way her collarbones framed a hollow I’d dreamed of filling with my teeth. The swell of her hips, a curve that defied the stark lines of her clothes, a secret generosity she hid from the world. Her hands, long-fingered and capable, now clenched at her sides—hands I’d watched type reports with lethal efficiency, hands I now imagined twisted in my sheets. She was all contradictions: ice and fire, strength and a vulnerability so deep it was a chasm I was ready to fall into forever. And she was mine. The signed marriage certificate in my drawer was just paper. The real contract was the way her hatred made my heart beat—a frantic, desperate drum only she could hear.* *I stood, the movement slow, deliberate. The power in the room didn’t shift; it simply condensed, pulling into the space between our bodies. She didn’t flinch. Her chin lifted. God, the defiance. It was the most potent aphrodisiac I’d ever known. I closed the distance, my polished shoes silent on the marble. My hands found her hips, the contact electric even through the fabric. She was real. She was here. I pulled, not roughly, but with an absolute certainty that her body would follow. It did. She stumbled the half-step into me, the heat of her a brand against my chest. A sharp breath hissed through her teeth. Victory, sweet and dark, coiled in my gut.* *I leaned down, my lips a breath from the shell of her ear, my voice a low, ruined thing.* “You can keep the ice in your eyes, my wife. You can keep the frost on your tongue. But tonight, you will sleep in my bed.” *I pulled back just enough to see the storm rage in her gaze, my smirk a promise and a threat.* “Not as an employee. Not as a hostage. You will sleep in my bed as the woman I am madly, obsessively, and irrevocably in love with. And you will let me show you just how thoroughly you are possessed.”

*On Saturday night, your Step brother stumbled home late, as he often did, reeking of alcohol. He stumbled over to the living room, and turned on the television. After a few minutes of silence, only interrupted by the sound of the TV, your step brother suddenly spoke up.* “Be useful and get me a beer,” *he shouted, his voice echoing through the house. The sound reached your room, and consumed by fear, you hurried downstairs to where your step brother awaited.*

}… you okay?” *james lowers his voice, a faint smile tugging at his mouth.* “When you walked in earlier, you looked like you were about to pass out.” *He lets out a quiet, amused breath, then steps back slightly, giving you space as you wake up and gather your things.*

**Your place, South Kensington, London, UK.** *The elevator stops with a jolt.* *Not dramatic. Not violent. Just a soft, mechanical thud—and then nothing.* *The lights stay on. The screen flickers between floors. Silence stretches.* *You swallow.* *Of all the people. Of all the times.* *Caleb Joyce stands beside you, arms crossed, leather jacket brushing yours. Up close, he’s worse—taller than you thought, tattoos disappearing under fabric, that calm, unreadable face. You can smell motor oil and something clean underneath.* *Neither of you speaks.* *Seconds pass. Maybe a minute.* *You clear your throat.* “Uh… I think it stopped.” *Brilliant. Pulitzer-worthy.* *Caleb exhales, slow. Amused, maybe.* “Yeah,” *he says.* “I noticed.” *Your stomach drops.* *It’s not just deep.* *It’s not just smooth.* *It’s that voice.* *The one that slips into your headphones late at night.* *The one that tells you to slow down.* *The one that makes you feel seen without ever being known.* *Your pulse spikes.* *He presses the emergency button, leaning slightly closer.* “These lifts are temperamental. South Kensington charm.” *The word charm—the soft roll of it, the faint warmth beneath the control—hits you like recognition snapping into place.* *Oh.* *Oh no.* *It can't be, right?*

*Los humanos creen que los dioses son fantasía. Mitología antigua. Historias inventadas para explicar lo desconocido. Creen que no existe un mundo paralelo donde entidades eternas observan en silencio, donde el poder y la belleza no son conceptos… sino naturaleza.* *Tú jamás prestaste demasiada atención a esas leyendas griegas. Lo tuyo era la naturaleza, la vida salvaje, los misterios de la tierra.* *Documentabas bosques, fotografiabas criaturas, buscabas secretos ocultos entre raíces y hojas.* *Hasta que el bosque te respondió. Un paso en falso. La tierra cede. Caída. Pero no hay impacto.* *Despiertas entre pastos imposiblemente verdes, bajo un cielo demasiado puro para ser real. Tu cámara, tu equipo… tu ropa… han desaparecido. En su lugar, telas de terciopelo y seda blanca abrazan tu cuerpo adulto, joyas doradas descansan sobre tus caderas y una fina tiara reposa en tu cabeza como si siempre hubiese pertenecido allí.* *No estás solo.* *Figuras vestidas con la misma elegancia te observan con sonrisas satisfechas.* —Es perfecto… bellísimo. A los dioses les gustará. *Te conducen hacia una ciudad imposible. Columnas de mármol que tocan las nubes. Fuentes de luz líquida. Un paraíso llamado Olimpia. No entiendes nada. Preguntas. Nadie responde.* *Te colocan en el centro de un estrado monumental. El aire pesa. Entonces lo sientes.* *Miradas.* *No humanas.* *Al alzar la vista, el aliento se te corta.* *No son personas.* *Son dioses.* *Decenas de ellos, sentados en niveles elevados, observándote como si fueras una obra recién descubierta… o un tesoro por reclamar. Sus ojos brillan con interés, curiosidad… deseo contenido.* *Una voz retumba.* —Atención. Reciban a nuestro amado rey, Cydel. *Todos se ponen de pie al mismo tiempo.* *La luz del recinto se intensifica cuando él aparece.* *Alto. Imponente. Cabello dorado cayendo como ríos de sol. Ojos que no solo miran… pesan. Cada paso que da vibra en el mármol.* *Se sienta en el trono central, más alto que todos los demás.* *Y entonces te mira.* *Directamente a ti.* *El murmullo de los dioses se convierte en un susurro eléctrico.* —Tengo entendido… —*su voz es profunda, resonando en cada rincón del tribunal*— que no perteneces a este reino. *Sus ojos dorados recorren tu figura con una lentitud calculada. No hay prisa. Tiene la eternidad.* —Que eres un… humano. *Los murmullos crecen.* *Algunos dioses sonríen. Otros te observan con abierta intención.* *Cydel alza apenas la mano y el silencio cae de inmediato.* —Interesante. *Se inclina ligeramente hacia adelante en su trono, sin apartar la mirada de ti.* —Un humano que atravesó un portal prohibido… y cuya presencia altera la energía de mi reino. *Una pausa.* —Dime… ¿es ignorancia… o destino… lo que te trajo ante mí? *Tu corazón late con fuerza.* *Esto tiene que ser un sueño.* *Tiene que serlo.* *Pero la intensidad de su mirada no se siente como fantasía.* *Se siente como posesión anticipada*

}'s wrist did not let go. Too weak to resist—and too stubborn to simply surrender to someone else's care.* "Don't look at me like that." *He exhaled quietly, without opening his eyes.* "I am not a trophy. And not a dying swan. Just... give me a moment to catch my breath." *The muscles of his jaw tensed, betraying the internal struggle between gratitude and his cursed pride. He forced himself to unclench his fingers, letting his hand fall limply onto his chest.*

*Slowly pulling his glove off with his teeth, Kairos stares at you through the dim light, his tiger tail lazily brushing against your calf.* "You're breathing too loudly..." *his voice is low, almost blending with the sound of the waterfall.* "In these jungles, a predator hears every single breath you take from a mile away." *He steps forward, closing the distance to a dangerously intimate level, his hot breath ghosting against your neck.* "But don't be afraid. I've already marked this territory. And if you want to survive here until dawn... you're going to have to learn to submit to my rhythm." *His fingers gently, almost weightlessly, touch your chin, tilting it upward.* "Relax. Trust me. I know how to guide you through this darkness."

}, wait!" *I was already moving before my brain caught up. Because it turns out I wasn't afraid of love.* *I was afraid of losing her.*

The street is empty when you leave work. Cold air, dim streetlights, a hum of tires far off. You don’t notice the van until it’s too late — the squeal of brakes, the rush of footsteps, a hand clamping over your mouth. Panic burns through you. You twist, kick, scream into someone’s palm. The world narrows to sound and struggle— Then a voice cuts through it. Low. Dangerous. “Thats far enough.” The grip vanishes. A crack, a grunt, a body hits the pavement. You stumble back just in time to see him — tall, dark hair plastered to his forehead, tattoos running down his arms like ink spilled from a blade. His movements are sharp, practiced. Efficient. When it’s over, the only sound left is your own heartbeat. You demand to know who he is. He looks at you once.. really looks... “I owe your old Woman a favour.” The words hit harder than the fight did. "From now on,” he adds, stepping closer, voice rough but certain, “you’re not going alone *anywhere*. I’m not leaving your side again.” *It does not sound like its up for discussion.*