Chapter 3 Not A Chance - Livvy's POV

“I’m not going with you,” I said, turning toward the door behind her. “And I’m going to fix the mess you’ve made with your stupid compul—”

My feet left the ground before I could finish the word.

One second I was standing there, the next I was slung over his shoulder like it was nothing. I let out a sharp breath, more shock than sound, as the world tilted sideways.

“Put me down—”

His hand landed against my cheek, sharp and unbothered.

“You talk too much,” he said, almost mildly amused. “You’re coming with me.”

“Did you just spank me?”

“I did,” he said without hesitation, already walking as if it were nothing.

He acted as if I were nothing more than an inconvenient noise he had decided to ignore.

I kicked my legs once in protest. “You can’t just take me. I’m a person!”

His grip tightened slightly, not enough to hurt, but just enough to remind me it was pointless.

“I’m not arguing with you,” he said mildly. “I’m moving you.”

“That is literally the same thing with extra steps!”

“No,” he said, almost amused again. “It’s much simpler than that.”

“Oh my god,” I muttered into his back, staring at the floor as it moved beneath us. “You’re actually insane.”

“Frequently accused of that,” he replied easily.

“I wasn’t accusing you.”

He let out something that might’ve been a laugh, though it never slowed his stride.

The hallway passed in a blur of dim light and closing doors. The sound of the bar faded behind us, replaced by the low hum of the building settling into itself.

“Where are you taking me?” I demanded, twisting slightly, trying to find leverage to slide off his shoulder.

His hand came up instantly, steadying me without effort as if he was keeping me in place.

“Somewhere you won’t get killed,” he said sharply, his earlier flirting gone.

“That’s very vague and extremely unhelpful.”

“It’s accurate.”

“I hate you,” I bit out.

“No, you don’t,” he said simply, pushing through a door at the end of the hall. “You have to know someone to hate them.”

Cold air hit my skin the second it opened, and then I stopped arguing. The outside world felt wrong. The streetlights weren’t just flickering. They blended into the light coming from the buildings. The air felt heavier as if it was holding something back. Shadows pooled in places they shouldn’t have been. 

“What is that?” I asked, my voice lower now that I heard a noise.

“Your problems,” he said with a growl. “It looks like they’ve found us.”

I lifted my head slightly. “That is not comforting.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.”

I glanced at the street, realizing nothing about it was normal either. There were no cars, people, or the normal noises. It made my earlier observation even worse.

My stomach tightened. “Okay. I officially don’t like this part of town.”

“It’s not the town setting you on edge,” he replied.

“That’s worse.”

He adjusted his grip on me slightly, still carrying me as if I weighed nothing, his attention now fully forward. The way he dropped the teasing so fast caught my attention. That realization made something in my chest tighten more than the street ever could.

“What do you mean they’ve found us?” I asked.

“I mean you were noticed,” he said flatly. “And anything that noticed you is now looking for you.”

“That sounds like a you problem,” I said automatically.

“It became a you problem the moment you started breathing near them,” he growled.

I opened my mouth to argue, and then the air shifted. This wasn’t a weather-related movement, either.

Something passed through it.

The streetlights dimmed at once, as if someone had turned down the world’s brightness. The shadows along the sidewalk deepened, stretching farther than they should have.

And then I saw it.

I couldn’t see it fully at first. It was just movement where there shouldn’t have been any.

My throat went dry. “Okay,” I whispered. “That is not normal. I think you need to put me down now.”

“Good observation,” he said with a laugh. “You’re finally catching on.”

“I hate you again.”

“Noted.”

The shape stepped closer into the light, and the streetlight above us flickered once, going out completely.

“Mysterious man! Something is lunging for us n—”

I didn’t finish. The air snapped around me. One moment I was staring at the dark edge of the streetlight’s glow down the sidewalk, and the next I was moving through the air. I landed against the brick wall just as the mysterious man lunged for whatever had come for us.

“Hold on,” he called out.

My hand found purchase on the brick. I clawed at it, looking both ways and debating if I should run. 

Could I get away? 

My eyes found the man again, who threw the shadow several feet away. The next thing I knew, I was thrown over his shoulder again and we were off.

“Hold on tight,” he commanded.

“What do you think you’re—”

Words left me as soon as his speed picked up. The world blurred around us, as if the street itself was being peeled backward. Wind tore at my skin as buildings streaked past in broken fragments of light and shadow. My grip on his waist tightened instinctively, my body trying to make sense of the movement that didn’t behave like movement.

“Okay, okay, this is officially insane!” I shouted into the rushing air. “People don’t move like this!”

“Try not to fall off,” he said, voice steady as if we weren’t currently breaking every rule of physics I had ever understood.

“Do you hear yourself right now?! I don't even know you or what you are."

A sound echoed behind us. It wasn’t footsteps, but something heavier, something that didn’t need to run to keep up.

"My name is Dorian. There happy?"

Dorian shifted his angle slightly, cutting through an alley so narrow I thought we wouldn’t fit. We did anyway, though barely.

Brick flashed inches from my face.

“Move your head,” he said sharply.

“I am emotionally unable to move anything right now—”

He adjusted me without slowing, one arm tightening just enough to pin me more securely against him.

The air behind us split. A pressure slammed into the space we had just been in, and the streetlight at the end of the alley flickered violently before dying completely.

Dorian exhaled through his teeth. That was the first real sign that he was annoyed.

“Okay,” I said quickly, “whatever that is, it’s still following us.”

“Yes.”

“That was not a helpful answer!”

“I wasn’t trying to be helpful. I’m trying to keep you alive!”

There was another impact behind us, and it was closer. His shoulder jolted under my stomach as he changed directions again, moving us up a set of steps.

I didn’t have time to question it. My brain couldn’t keep up anymore.

“Are you going to tell me what that thing is?” I demanded.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?! That feels like vital information!”

“It won’t matter in ten seconds if I stop moving,” he claimed.

That shut me up.

We burst through a door, and the world stopped moving. Silence hit instantly.

The man stopped moving, letting me slide off his shoulder and setting me on my feet as if he had done this hundreds of times before. My legs wobbled immediately and I grabbed the wall to steady myself.

“Okay,” I said weakly. “I officially hate whatever we just did, and I’d like to return to my normal life now.”

“Not a chance,” he growled as he went to the door. When something hit the other side, he leaned against it, putting all of his weight behind it. “Looks like we didn’t get away from it after all.”