Chapter 46 Baited Lines
Luna’s POV
Anticipation. It wasn’t just mine.
It pulsed faintly through the bond I now recognized whenever Ethan leaned too close to my power. Not a connection, and not control.
But awareness.
He was waiting for us to move.
Good. Let him.
Kai closed the leather-bound book slowly, with his fingers lingering on the cover like he was sealing something bigger than paper.
“We draw him out,” he said.
I leaned against the table, studying him. “You want to use me as bait.”
His jaw tightened. “I want to use what he already thinks he understands.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Kai exhaled through his nose. “Yes. He wants you isolated and vulnerable and emotional. So we give him visible access….but controlled.”
My shadows stirred at the word controlled.
I folded my arms. “Define controlled.”
Kai stepped closer, lowering his voice even though the wards were humming steadily.
“We leak information.”
My brow furrowed. “To whom?”
“To everyone.”
I stared at him.
Kai’s eyes sharpened. “We let it slip that you’re training. That you’ve stabilized post–Blood Moon. That you’re planning to visit the quarry.”
My stomach dropped. “That’s exactly where he expects us to go.”
“Yes,” Kai said. “And that’s exactly why we won’t be there.”
Oh.
A slow, dangerous understanding settled into place.
“You’re misdirecting him,” I said.
Kai nodded once. “He’s confident. He’ll assume he’s ahead of us. He’ll prepare the quarry. He’ll gather whatever he’s been building.”
“And while he does that…”
“We track the source,” Kai finished. “Power that strong doesn’t anchor itself without a base.”
My pulse quickened.
“You think he has something physical?” I asked. “An artifact? A ritual site?”
“I think,” Kai said carefully, “that no one manipulates Blood Moon energy without a conduit.”
My mind flashed back to the heir mark carved into the concrete.
“He marked territory,” I murmured.
Kai’s gaze sharpened. “Exactly.”
Silence stretched between us, electric with possibility.
Then doubt crept in.
“And if he doesn’t take the bait?” I asked quietly.
Kai’s expression didn’t waver. “He will.”
“You sound very sure.”
“He’s arrogant,” Kai said simply. “And he’s obsessed.”
That word hit harder than I expected.
Obsessed, with my power, with control, and with proving something.
My shadows curled tighter around my wrists like a silent agreement.
Kai reached out, brushing his fingers against one of the map edges.
“We move before dawn,” he said. “There’s a rail yard two districts over.
Abandoned. Old ley lines run under it.”
My stomach flipped.
Ley lines meant raw current.
Unfiltered magic.
“He’d use that,” I breathed.
Kai nodded. “If he’s amplifying control over others, he needs a network.”
I straightened. “Then let’s go now.”
His hand shot out, gripping my wrist….not harsh, but firm.
“Luna.”
“What?”
“You’re exhausted.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re vibrating.”
I stilled.
He wasn’t wrong. Beneath my skin, energy hummed…too sharp, too thin.
Kai softened slightly. “We don’t win by rushing him. We win by being steady.”
Frustration flared, but it burned out quickly.
He was right.
I hated that he was right.
“Two hours,” Kai said. “You rest. I reinforce the wards and prep.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
He raised a brow.
I sighed. “Fine.”
But I didn’t go to the cot.
Instead, I moved to the center of the room and lowered myself to the floor.
“I’m not sleeping,” I said. “I’m stabilizing.”
Kai watched me carefully, then gave a small nod.
“Anchor to me,” he said quietly.
I closed my eyes. Not summoning and not pushing.
Just breathing.
The shadows around me flowed slower now…not frantic, not clawing….just present.
Kai’s energy was different from mine. Where mine was fluid and deep, his was structured. Solid. Like iron beams beneath a building.
I let that structure steady me.
Minutes passed or maybe longer.
Then….
A flicker, not outside and not against the wards, but inside me.
A whisper. Not words. An image.
Steel beams and tracks.
A red signal light is blinking in the darkness.
My eyes snapped open.
Kai was already watching me.
“You saw something,” he said.
“Rail yard,” I whispered. “Not just a guess. He’s already there.”
Kai didn’t hesitate.
He moved to the weapons rack, grabbing a blade etched with faint silver runes. Not for me.
For him.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“Yes.”
The certainty surprised even me. My power wasn’t reacting in fear.
It was reacting in recognition.
“He’s not waiting for us to leak anything,” I said slowly. “He’s ahead of that. He wants us to come.”
Kai’s eyes darkened. “Then this isn’t bait.”
“No,” I said.
My shadows stretched slowly along the concrete floor.
“It’s a trap.”
Silence thickened.
Kai stepped closer, searching my face.
“You don’t have to do this tonight,” he said quietly.
I looked at him…really looked at him.
At the tension in his shoulders, at the readiness in his stance, and at the fear he tried to hide.
“Yes,” I said.
“I do.”
Because this wasn’t just about reacting anymore.
It was about ending the game.
Kai gave one sharp nod.
“Then we move quietly,” he said. “No noise. No power flares unless necessary.”
I stood.
My shadows tightened like armor around my spine.
“Let’s hunt,” I said softly.
Kai’s eyes flashed gold for just a second.
And somewhere in the city….
A red signal light blinked steadily in the dark.
Waiting.