Chapter 68: Chapter 68

The apartment moved all at once after that.

Jess disappeared down the hallway first muttering, “This is officially the worst sleepover I’ve ever attended,” while Malric crossed toward the security monitors built into the kitchen wall.

Most of the screens had already gone black. The few still functioning flickered with distorted camera feeds from around the building and nearby streets. Static rolled across the images while downtown Houston moved in uneven bursts of panic below. Some people ran without direction. Others stood motionless in the middle of sidewalks staring upward like they were hearing something nobody else could. Rowan hated that she understood the feeling. Corvin moved toward a hidden cabinet near the far wall and opened it. Weapons gleamed beneath the dim emergency lighting. Of course he had an armory hidden in the penthouse. At this point she would have been more surprised if he did not.

“You own an unreasonable number of knives,” she said automatically.

Corvin glanced toward her while fastening something dark around his wrist. “That is not currently the problem.”

“It can be two problems.”

The faintest hint of amusement touched his expression before disappearing again. Somehow that tiny reaction steadied her nerves more than it should have. Rowan headed quickly toward the bedroom, trying not to focus on the sounds drifting upward from the streets below. Sirens echoed constantly now. Somewhere farther downtown, metal groaned loudly enough to carry through the night air while distant shouting rose and fell beneath it. Houston sounded afraid. The thought settled heavily in her chest. She grabbed clothes, shoes, her phone charger, then stopped halfway through opening another drawer. This was insane. Less than a year ago her biggest problems involved deadlines, difficult vendors, and trying not to develop feelings for a dangerously attractive CEO who stared at her like she was personally disrupting centuries of emotional repression. Now she was packing an emergency bag because ancient supernatural entities were waking up beneath Houston. Her life had taken a truly aggressive turn.

The bond stirred softly at the edge of her thoughts before Corvin even appeared in the doorway.

“You’re overthinking.”

Rowan shoved another shirt into the bag. “I feel like I’ve earned the right.”

Corvin crossed the room slowly. Even now, with the city unraveling around them, every movement he made stayed controlled.

Measured.

Like chaos simply adjusted itself around him instead of the other way around.

“You’re safe,” he said quietly.

Rowan looked up at him. “Corvin, respectfully, that feels objectively untrue.”

His gaze softened slightly.

“You’re still standing.”

“That is an incredibly low standard.”

A quiet breath of amusement escaped him before fading again. Up close, the exhaustion in his expression became easier to see. Not physical exhaustion. Something older. He looked like someone trying to hold together too many collapsing possibilities at once while pretending none of them frightened him.

Unfortunately for him, she noticed things now.

“You knew this could happen,” Rowan said softly.

Corvin held her gaze for a long moment before answering.

“I knew the city was unstable.”

“That is not the same answer.”

“No,” he admitted quietly. “It isn’t.”

Fear tightened sharply in her chest again. Not because of the city. Because Corvin looked guilty.

Rowan stepped closer before fully thinking through the movement. “Hey.”

His attention locked onto her immediately.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said.

Something shifted visibly in his expression at that. Not surprise. Something deeper. The kind of emotion Corvin tried very hard not to show openly because once he cared about something, he cared completely. His hand lifted slightly like he intended to touch her face before stopping halfway. Still waiting. Always waiting. The realization affected her more than she wanted to admit. So Rowan closed the distance herself. Her fingers brushed lightly against his wrist, guiding his hand the rest of the way. Corvin touched her carefully enough that it almost hurt. Outside, another pulse rolled through the city. The windows trembled faintly. Neither of them moved. For one brief moment the chaos outside the room faded beneath the warmth of the bond between them. Rowan leaned instinctively into his touch while Corvin looked at her like the rest of the world had become background noise.

Then Malric’s voice carried in from the other room.

“We have another problem.”

Rowan closed her eyes briefly. “Of course we do.”

Corvin’s thumb brushed once across her cheek before he stepped back. The sudden absence of warmth felt immediate. Dangerously noticeable.

They returned to the main room together where Jess now stood fully dressed with a backpack over one shoulder.

“I would like everyone to know,” Jess announced seriously, “that I packed under extreme emotional distress.”

Malric barely looked away from one of the remaining monitors. “You packed seven snack bars.”

“Trauma requires preparation.”

“That is actually fair,” Rowan admitted.

Jess pointed at her immediately. “Thank you.”

Corvin moved toward the security screens. “What happened?”

Malric tapped one of the distorted camera feeds. The image sharpened briefly before flickering again. Rowan’s stomach dropped. Figures moved through the streets below far too quickly to be human. Shadows crossed rooftops. Creatures she did not fully recognize slipped through traffic while civilians stumbled through downtown panic without understanding what they were actually seeing. The supernatural world was no longer hiding properly.

“Oh,” Jess whispered.

“That’s spreading faster than expected,” Malric said quietly.

Corvin’s expression hardened. “The network collapse removed the veil.”

Rowan looked toward him sharply. “The what?”

“The system suppressing supernatural visibility across the city.”

“You mean Houston had a magical privacy filter?”

“Essentially.”

Jess blinked several times. “I hate how casually everyone says horrifying things now.”

Malric’s attention stayed fixed on the monitor. “If the veil continues destabilizing, humans will start noticing things they were never supposed to see.”

Almost immediately, screams echoed faintly through one of the monitor speakers.

Rowan felt cold all over.

“What happens if the veil fully fails?”

Nobody answered. Which was answer enough. Then one of the security feeds cleared completely. A single figure stood motionless in the building lobby below. Pale skin. Gold eyes. Smiling directly into the camera.

Jess made a strained noise under her breath. “Absolutely not.”

The woman lifted one hand slowly toward the screen. Then every monitor went black simultaneously.