Through the Veil (Alex's POV)

The moment Lily’s voice drifted through the phone, I froze.

I had been listening, straining to hear every breath, every hesitation. I knew I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help myself. She had disappeared without a trace, slipping through my fingers like a ghost, and now she was finally speaking to someone—Eric.

I clenched my fists at my sides, forcing myself to remain still.

“I’m okay, Eric,” she said, and my jaw tightened. She didn’t sound okay. There was something in her voice—a fragility she rarely let show.

“I just… I need time to figure things out. I’m not in a place to talk about everything yet.”

Her words sent a sharp pang through me. I had spent days searching for her, trying to find any trace of where she had gone. The idea that she was out there, alone, trying to deal with this without us—it was unbearable.

“I get it,” Eric responded. “But Lily, you can’t do this alone. We’re here for you. Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to face it by yourself.”

My fingers twitched. I wanted to step in, to say something, to remind her that she was ours to protect. But I couldn’t. Not yet.

“I know, Eric. I know you’re all trying to help, but I just need to handle this on my own for now. I can’t explain why, but I just need some space.”

I exhaled slowly, closing my eyes. Space. That was what she wanted. What she had taken. But I couldn’t give it to her. Not completely.

“Okay,” Eric said quietly. “I respect that. But please, just promise me one thing. When you’re ready, when you’re ready to talk, we’ll be here.”

Promise, Lily whispered. “I promise.”

A lie. A beautiful, heartbreaking lie.

I could hear the way she hesitated, the weight behind her words. She wasn’t planning on coming back. Not soon. Maybe not ever.

Eric spoke again, his voice softer. “I won’t ask you where you are. I don’t need to know. But… just don’t cut us out completely, okay? You don’t have to face this alone.”

I waited, breath held, for any hint of her location. But she gave none.

“I won’t, Eric. I just... need time to figure out what’s next.”

She was careful. Too careful. My mind worked through the conversation, dissecting every word. There had to be something. Some detail, some hint.

Then, a shift in her breathing. A rustle. The faintest noise of movement.

A city. I had been listening so intently to Lily that I had almost ignored the background noise. It was subtle, but now that I focused, I could hear it—the distant hum of traffic, the occasional honk of a horn, muffled voices from below.

Not the countryside. Not the quiet, hidden places she could have run to. A city.

The call ended, and silence settled once more.

But my mind was racing.

Lily had left, but she wasn’t hiding in the wilderness. She was somewhere among people, somewhere she thought we wouldn’t look.

That narrowed my search.

I let out a breath, my muscles coiled tight with frustration and something deeper—something raw.

She had run from me. From us. And yet, I could still hear the longing in her voice, the ache she was trying so hard to suppress.

She didn’t want to be found.

But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t find her.

Because she belonged to me. To us. And I wasn’t going to let her go.

I stood in the dim light of my room, staring out the window. The city below was alive, its neon glow pulsing against the night. I had spent centuries watching cities change, expand, crumble, and rebuild. But tonight, all I cared about was one thing—Lily.

I pressed my hands against the cool glass, my mind replaying every second of her conversation. She was smart, too smart. She hadn’t slipped up, hadn’t revealed where she was. But I knew it was only a matter of time. She could run, but she couldn’t hide forever. Not from me.

A knock at the door broke my thoughts.

“Alex.” It was Markus. I didn’t turn. I knew he had the same questions I did. “Anything?”

I exhaled through my nose. “She’s safe.”

A pause. “And?”

I finally turned to face him. “She’s in a city. She was near a window when she talked to Eric. There was traffic, people. Not a rural area.”

Markus studied me. “That narrows it down, but it’s still a lot of ground to cover.”

I nodded. “She thinks she’s hidden. That she’s done everything right to keep us away.”

“But she doesn’t know you heard her.”

A slow smirk formed on my lips. “Exactly.”

Markus sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What’s the plan?”

“First, we start with the obvious. The cities she’d feel safest in. Ones she’s been to before, ones she’d think we wouldn’t check first.”

Markus crossed his arms. “And when we find her?”

I met his gaze. “We bring her home.”

He hesitated. “Alex… what if she doesn’t want to come back?”

My jaw clenched. “She will.”