Chapter Forty Nine

Chapter Forty Nine
Damon's POV:

“You really need to tell her at some point, Damon,” Jace stated.

I knew he was right, but at that moment, I couldn't risk it. She's already been through so much and the last thing I wanted was for her to start worrying about this too.

“I'd tell her when the time's right.”

He nodded. We took our seat around the study table, with the council latch in front of us. Kian brought out his computer and started showing the security footage of the mysterious guy.

He was dressed in black jeans, hoodie and a mask. It was hard to tell who he was, but there was something that caught my attention. “Pause it really quick.”

He paused it, and looked at me as I examined it. I was staring at the frozen image of the mysterious guy where he turned his face.

Although, he was well covered. I couldn't help but notice his eyes—Ocean blue. That was a clue that's needed in finding the culprit.

“Look closely at his eyes.”

They both looked and examined it closely. “He had blue eyes,” I pointed out. “That could be a lead in our search.”

Jace scoffed. “And so fucking what? They're a lot of people out there with blue eyes. Are we just going to go round, grabbing any guy with blue eyes until we find the real culprit?”

I tilted my head. “Not what I had in mind. But I just thought that it was a good observation and could help us in searching for him.”

He didn't reply to that, and for a while there was nothing but silence between us. “The council are onto us. There's no one we can trust from that circle so we have to be really cautious.”

“What are we going to do?” Kian inquired, his voice trembling. “We literally have no clue of this guy and the only thing we have as leads is just his eyes and this stupid council patch.”

Jace added, “But how could he have gotten inside? The building is heavily guarded and he should be triggered by the security system.”

Kian ran his fingers through his hair. “Are you thinking of what I'm thinking?” He exchanged glances with us.

“Yeah,” I replied. “We have a mole amongst us and there's someone who must have helped him in. I can't believe that we were so dumb to not see this all along.”

The door opened before anyone could say another word. We all turned. Jhelani stood by the doorway, her arms folded, her expression unreadable.

“I heard enough,” she said quietly. Her voice was calm, but I could tell she was holding something back. “You’re talking about the intruder again, right?”

Jace looked down at the laptop. Kian avoided her eyes.

“Jhelani,” I said, trying to keep my tone steady. “You shouldn’t be here right now. We’ve got this handled.”

She walked further in, ignoring me. “Handled? You’re keeping things from me again. I can feel something is wrong, Damon. You can’t hide it. I can sense it.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “You’ve been through too much already. I don’t want you involved.”

She stopped right in front of the table. “You don’t get to decide that for me. I’m not weak anymore. I can sense danger better than any of you now. Let me help.”

Jace sighed and leaned back in his chair. “She’s got a point, man. You can’t protect her forever. If someone’s after us, she deserves to know.”

“Jace, not now,” I muttered.

He shrugged. “Just saying what everyone’s thinking.”

Kian finally spoke up. “Maybe she’s right. We’ve been stuck for days. If she can feel something we can’t, maybe that’s the help we need.”

I stared at Jhelani. She looked determined, not scared. No matter what I said, she wasn’t going to back down.

“Fine,” I said after a long pause. “But you follow my lead. No risks, no wandering off on your own. We work together.”

Her lips curved into a small smile. “Deal.”

We spent the next hour planning everything. Kian connected the new cameras to the main system in the study. Jace worked on setting traps around the property — simple ones that would trigger a silent alarm if anyone crossed the boundary.

Jhelani sat next to me, watching quietly. Sometimes she leaned in and pointed out places we should reinforce. Her hand brushed mine once, and I realized I was tense. She noticed too.

“You’re shaking,” she whispered.

“I’m fine,” I said quickly, pulling my hand away. But I wasn’t fine. My chest felt heavy, like I was carrying the whole burden of fear on my shoulders.

When we were done, the others went to check the perimeter. It was just the two of us left in the room.

She turned to me. “You’re upset.”

I shook my head. “Not at you. I’m just… mad at myself. I yelled at you earlier, and I shouldn’t have. I’m scared, Jhelani. I almost lost you once. I can’t lose you again.” back in the days when we were in school, the council had made an attack on Jhelani but we were able to protect her on time and thankfully, she didn't realize what sort of danger she was in at that time.

Her face softened. She moved closer and placed her hand on my cheek. “I know. But you can’t keep all of this inside. You don’t have to protect me from everything. You have to trust me too.”

“I do trust you,” I said quietly. “That’s why I need you to be careful.”

She smiled a little. “Then we’ll both try. You protect me, and I’ll protect you. Deal?”

“Okay...” I whispered, amusement etched on my lips.

She leaned into me, resting her head on my chest. For a few seconds, the room felt still. I could feel her heartbeat against mine, steady and warm

It was late that night when a faint beep came from the security monitor. I rubbed my eyes and looked up. The camera feed flickered for a moment, then cleared.

A figure stood outside the property line.

They wore a black cloak, the same kind used by the Council. The figure didn’t move for several seconds. Then they slowly turned toward the camera.

Even through the grainy image, I saw it.

Those same ocean-blue eyes staring back at me.