Alice POV
The front door clicked shut behind her, soft and certain, like it knew he didn't want to be heard.
Alice slipped off her boots, moving like fog, quiet, deliberate. Her fingers brushed the edge of the hallway table, grounding herself with the texture of polished wood.
She was buzzing.
Not visibly. Not obviously. But underneath the practiced calm, beneath the flick of her hair and the small distracted smile she wore like armor, something inside was pacing.
"Finally," Emmett called from the couch, where he was mid-controller battle with Jasper. "Took you long enough."
Alice didn't respond right away. She walked into the living room, let her bag fall by the stairs, and sat on the arm of a chair instead of properly settling in.
Jasper noticed it instantly. His fingers paused over the buttons on the controller, head tilting toward her with quiet intuition. "You're… unsettled."
"Understatement," Rosalie muttered from the kitchen. She was wiping down a spotless counter, clearly having cleaned it three times already. "She's been glitching in and out of half-formed visions since lunch."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "I don't glitch."
"You do when you are spiraling," Rosalie said smoothly. "Which you are."
Emmett grinned, sensing blood in the water. "Ooooh. Did something interesting happen with our newest emotionally constipated friend?"
Alice ignored the teasing. Mostly.
She drew her knees up and hugged them loosely, resting her chin on one. "I think I messed up."
That got everyone's attention.
Japer sat down the controller. Rosalie stilled. Even Emmett turned the game off.
"You didn't mess anything up," Jasper said gently.
She shook her head. "I didn't say something wrong. I didn't do anything wrong. That's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean? " Rosalie asked, folding her arms. "Because I've seen you handle prophecy, war, and prom without blinking. But this guy has you acting like a freshman with a crush."
Alice exhaled through her nose. "It's not the bond. I mean-okay, yes, it's the bond. But it's not just that."
She looked up. Met their gazes, one by one.
"He's not like us. Not in the way most people aren't. He doesn't move like we do, think like we do. There's… something beny in the center of him. Not broken, but turned sideways. And I can't see around it."
"That's just called being complicated," Emmett offered. "We've got a whole coven full of that."
"No," Alice said, sharper now. "This is different. He's aware of it. He's holding it back like it's something sharp in his palm, and he's just waiting to see if he needs to use it."
Jasper shifted. "Do you think he's dangerous?"
"Yes," Alice whispered. "But not to us. Not unless we give him a reason."
She swallowed. "He's dangerous to himself."
That silenced the room.
Rosalie, for once, didn't have a comeback.
Emmett sat down properly.
Jasper reached out, just a brush of his hand against her arm.
Alice blinked. "He looked at me like I wasn't a threat. Like I mattered. Like he'd already chosen to let me in."
"And that's bad?" Rosalie asked, genuinely confused.
Alice hesitated. "It's terrifying."
She drew her legs back down, standing suddenly. "Because I don't know if I deserve that kind of trust. I don't know if I can return it the way he's already giving it. And I can't see what happens if I fail him."
Silence again. Then.
"You won't," Jasper said simply.
"How do you know?"
"Because you are you."
Alice gave a tired smile.
Not because she believed it.
But because… for the first time in a long time… she wanted to.
…
Sebastian POV.
The trees whispered behind him.
Not in a poetic way. Not in the "Mother nature is mysterious and alice" kind of way. No, this was different. There was a shift. Something in the air pressed against the back of his neck like a too-close breath.
Sebastian paused mid-step on the dirt path that veered off the main road. The one he always took when he wanted to think. Or walk without thinking.
He tileted his head slightly.
Birdsong had stopped.
So had the wind.
And the vampire he'd left half-conscious under a tree twenty minutes ago hadn't made a sound since he walked away. He would've heard it if he had.
But that's not what was bothering him.
It was something else.
Watching.
His jaw clenched. The easy humor from earlier slipped out of reach like a dropped coin in a storm drain.
He turned slowly. Nothing but trees. Shadows. Moss and filtered sun.
Still-
Heavy.
Too still.
He closed his eyes for half a second-breathed in.
It was instinct more than decision. A subtle stretch of the perception he kept coiled up under his skin like an emergency wire. And there it was: not movement, but presence. Not light, but pressure.
Someone, or something, was watching.
And not the curious, confused vampire therapist kind of way.
In the measuring kind of way.
Sebastian exhaled, calm on the surface.
But underneath?
There was a coldness rising in his ribs. Not fear. Not yet. But not peace either.
"Subtle," he said aloud, dry. "Real ninja vibes."
No answer.
He didn't expect one.
He looked at the treetops. Then let his voice drop just enough to blend with the quiet.
"You felt that too, right?" he murmured, not to anyone present, but, maybe, himself.
It wasn't paranoia. Not when you'd survived worse things than most stories had names for. It was muscle memory. A sixth sense built by running for your life enough times to know when something was off.
He knelt slowly, fingers brushing the dirt path. Nothing obvious. No footsteps. No fresh scent. But the weight of eyes were still there.
He didn't fight it this time. Didn't crack a joke. He just stood slowly, letting silence stretch.
Whoever it was, they didn't come forward.
But they also didn't leave.
He turned and walked again, deliberately slow. Not running. That would give the wrong message.
But he didn't take the long way home either.
He took the fastest.
Unknown POV.
The boy didn't turn again.
Not after the pause.
Not after the reach of power that shimmered just under the skin of this reality.
He was good.
Too good.
The figure in the tree narrowed their eyes.
Not Cullen, that much was clear. But not fully outside their kind either. Something woven through him didn't belong to the natural world.
Power, yes. But old power. Learned, not gifted. Bent inward like a forge, not a spark.
Interesting.
Dangerous.
And most importantly: unclaimed.
The figure leaned back against the bark of a pine, breath shallow. They hadn't been sent. Not exactly. But word was spreading. And wherever someone like that walked, trouble followed. Not always by choice.
But always in time.
Sebastian POV.
By the time he saw the first mail box again, Sebastian's mind was already two steps ahead.
Not panic.
Not a plan.
Just a tension. A knowledge.
He wasn't alone in the forest.
And he wasn't the only one watching the shadows anymore.
The funny part? He wasn't even surprised.
There was a truth he didn't say out loud, even to himself.
Power attracts gravity.
And gravity always draws in something heavier.
He walked the rest of the way home in silence.
Even the jokes stayed silent this time.
END OF CHAPTER 18.