Ethereal | Twilight |

015

Sam wrenched the wheel, the tires screeching against the torn asphalt as the car jolted across the faded yellow line. The sudden motion threw Sora sideways, his shoulder slamming against the cold metal door, the seatbelt cutting a quick line across his chest. The world outside blurred in a flash of broken trees and empty roads.

"What happened?" Sora asked, voice low and brittle.

"I changed my mind."

"Ok."

The silence that followed curdled in the small cab, thick and suffocating. Sora bit the inside of his cheek until blood bloomed across his tongue, sharp and metallic. Sam caught the movement, his head snapping around, his brow furrowed like he was about to say something — but he didn't. He shook his head instead, the gesture quick and final, like he was tired of even trying.

"What?" Sora pressed, his words splintering through the stillness.

"Nothing." Sam let out a short, hollow laugh. "You just got problems, man. Mad fucking problems. You and Paul. Ain't nobody else in this fucking pack got more damage stitched into them than you two."

The words sank their teeth in, but Sora didn't flinch. He shoved the door open the second the car slowed, stepping out into the heavy air and letting it slam behind him, the sound echoing like a gunshot through the empty lot.

Bella was already there. Her battered truck sat hunched in the gravel like something abandoned, the engine ticking as it cooled under the bruised sky.

Sora's hands balled into fists before he even realized it, the crack of knuckles tightening the heat swelling behind his eyes. A growl churned low in his chest, the animal part of him coiling tighter and tighter.

When he spoke, his voice was pure poison, velvet wrapped around broken glass.

Bella startled, the jolt in her seat sharp and instinctive, fear flashing through her face before she shoved it down. She tried to sit straighter, tried to tuck the fear away where he couldn't see it, but she was too slow. Sora caught the tremor in her lips, the shallow hitch of her breath, the way her hands twisted uselessly in her lap.

It poured gasoline on the fire burning through him.

He barely registered the boy crumpled beside her — wide, naive eyes, the kind of softness that made Sora's teeth ache to destroy something.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, the words dragging like a knife through dirt. His voice was quiet, but it filled the space between them like smoke, suffocating.

Bella's eyes fluttered, her lashes trembling, her body shrinking without even moving.

The front door behind Sora creaked open with a long, aching groan.

Paul stepped out, shirtless, barefoot, the sunlight clinging to the sharp lines of his body. He stretched lazily, his movements slow, his golden skin gleaming with heat, as if the tension splitting the air couldn't touch him. For a moment, confusion shadowed his face — then recognition sharpened his features like a blade being drawn.

Sora exhaled sharply, his patience snapping thread by thread.

"Bella," he said, the name biting into the thick air like a slap.

She flinched, visibly this time, her breath catching in her throat.

"Bella," he repeated, the word lower, rougher.

Finally, she looked at him, really looked at him, her doll-like teeth catching on her bottom lip as she scrambled for something to say.

"Just get to leaving," Sora said, the command sliding out cold and deliberate. "I don't know why you're here."