CHAPTER 226

**WINTER** 

I couldn’t get enough air. 

My breaths came in short, ragged gasps, and my chest felt like it was caving in. I pressed a fist against it—pounded once, twice—trying to knock the panic loose, but it clung to me like a second skin.

I wasn’t cold, but I was shivering. 

My whole body shook. I wiped a trembling hand across my forehead and stared at the sweat on my palm. 

Burning. I was burning up. Was it in my head? I didn’t know anymore.

“Toby,” I choked out, barely saying his name.

Claire was in front of me instantly, kneeling down so her face was level with mine. Her hands cupped my cheeks gently, forcing me to look at her.

“Winter. WINTER, look at me!” Claire’s voice was like a slap—sharp, no-nonsense, cutting straight through the chaos in my head. She gripped my face, fingers firm against my cheeks as she forced my eyes up to hers.

“I know it hurts. I know it’s hell. But you need to stop spiralling, right now. Do you hear me?” Her voice cracked, but she didn’t let go. 

“You falling apart like this? It’s exactly what that sick bastard wants. You wanna let him win? You wanna let him break you? You’re giving him what he wants. Do you understand? He wants to see you like this.”

Tears spilt hot down my face. I tried to look away. 

Claire didn’t let me.

“Breathe. Come on. In. Out. You can fall apart later. Right now, we need you. I need you. We’re still here—we’re not gone. You’re not alone.”

Before I could speak, Ariel slid in close, her touch featherlight on my back, rubbing soft circles like she always did when I used to get overwhelmed.

“Hey,” she said quietly, her voice the balm to Claire’s fire. 

“We’re not saying this to be mean. We’re saying it because we love you.”

I shuddered, and Ariel kept going, voice gentler than ever.

“I know it’s terrifying. And I know you feel like everything’s falling apart, but we’re not going anywhere. That thing outside? That horror? It’s not stronger than the people who love you. Claire’s scared too. We all are. But you don’t have to do this alone.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, her eyes shining with something fierce but kind.

“You’re allowed to feel everything, Winter. But don’t shut us out. Don’t carry this on your own.”

My chest heaved as I stared between them, my hands trembling uncontrollably.

“You don’t understand,” I choked, voice shredded. “You don’t—he’s watching me. He knew where I’d be. He left Toby for me.”

A sob cracked from my throat. I tried to pull away, but Ariel held firm, grounding me with that maddening gentleness.

“He’s not going to stop,” I whispered. “This isn’t over. He’s going to keep going until I’m completely alone—or dead.”

Claire’s jaw clenched. “Don’t say that—”

But I couldn’t hear her anymore.

I slapped my hands over my ears, shaking my head like I could rattle the images loose.

The terror pressed down on me, suffocating, thick and inescapable. My lungs fought for air, but all I could breathe in was the memory.

The box.

The blood.

The way the fur was matted and torn.

It wouldn’t stop replaying.

I couldn’t unsee it.

I couldn’t unfeel it.

He wasn’t just gone. 

He’d been taken from me—ripped away in the cruellest way possible.

He wasn’t just some stray cat. He was mine. My little shadow. The only thing that ever felt safe when everything else was falling apart was And now—he was gone. Torn apart. Left outside like garbage.

And now... now I knew the rules had changed.

This wasn’t a joke anymore.

It never had been.

My lungs kept forgetting how to work. 

The room felt too full, voices bouncing off the walls, too many words I couldn’t process.

Claire reached over to the coffee table, grabbed a bottle of water, and pressed it gently into my trembling hands.

“Please, Win,” she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. 

“Just try to sip some, okay?”

I shook my head, the movement jerky, almost violent. 

My grip tightened around the bottle, but I couldn’t bring it to my lips. The thought of swallowing—of doing anything normal—felt impossible. 

“You’re shaking. You need something.”

The front door burst open with a violent crack.

Zion.

My head snapped toward the sound, and the moment our eyes locked—a tear slipped down my cheek.

He didn’t hesitate.

He didn’t ask what happened. Didn’t stop to look around. He didn’t need to.

The second he saw me—shaking, pale, broken—something snapped behind his eyes.

He stormed inside like a man possessed, like the world could burn around him and he wouldn’t care, as long as he got to me.

Three strides.

That’s all it took.

And then I was in his arms.

He lifted me effortlessly, like I was weightless—like I was the only thing grounding him. His grip was fierce, trembling with rage and desperation, but careful... like if he held me too tight, I’d shatter.

He dropped onto the couch, pulling me into his lap, wrapping himself around me like a shield.

One hand cradled the back of my head. The other gripped my hip like he was staking a claim.

Zion buried his face in my hair, breathing me in like he was trying to memorise every part of me—like if he let go for even a second, I’d disappear.

He clutched me tighter, like he thought I’d disappear if he let go. Like I wasn’t just something he loved, but something he needed to breathe.

And in that moment, I wasn’t just a girl who was breaking.

I was his.

His obsession.

His panic.

His fury.

His everything.

“You’re safe now,” he whispered, voice low, almost guttural, like the words were being torn from somewhere deep inside him.

“You hear me?” 

His grip tightened around me like a vice, like he could shield me from the entire fucking world just by holding on tight enough. 

“I’ve got you. You’re mine. And no one—no one—is ever fucking touching you again.”

His breath shuddered against my skin. His voice dropped into something darker, deadly.

“If they try—if they even look at you wrong—I’ll put them in the ground myself. I don’t care who they are, how smart they think they are, how long they’ve been hiding. I will find them. And I will end them.”

His hand fisted in the back of my shirt. 

“I’ll rip their fucking throat out before I let them take one more second of peace from you.”

He leaned in closer, his mouth near my ear.

“I swear to God, Snowflake, they’re not getting away with this. I don’t care what it costs. I’ll burn the whole world down before I let you be afraid again.”

His whole body trembled with the force of what he wasn’t saying.

And still, he didn’t loosen his grip.

Because Zion didn’t just hold me.

He needed me.

Like air.

Like blood.

Like nothing else in the world mattered but me still breathing.

“I’ve got you,” he breathed, voice barely above a whisper. 

“You hear me? It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

I couldn’t breathe. 

But I nodded.

“We need to report it,” Harry said from behind us, his voice sharp, but there was something underneath—controlled fury, like he was trying not to explode. 

“This isn’t just some messed-up prank. Someone did this. Someone crossed a line.”

Ro let out a low breath, dragging a hand down his face. 

“We need to check the cameras. Every single one. Driveway, perimeter, hell—even the neighbours if we have to. There has to be something. He didn’t just vanish into thin air after dumping that box.”

Clark was pacing now, fists clenched and eyes burning with a kind of dark excitement that didn’t quite match the horror hanging in the room.

“That sick bastard thinks he’s smart, huh?” he muttered, almost to himself. 

“Thinks he can leave that kind of shit on our doorstep and walk away?”

He stopped pacing and turned slowly, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth—but it wasn’t a happy one. It was cold. Cruel.

“Give me five minutes alone with him,”

Clark said, cracking his knuckles one by one. 

“Just five. I won’t even need a bat. Just a chair, a toolbox, and a Taylor Swift playlist on loop. Might even smile while I do it..We’ll see how long before he starts begging for prison.”

Claire shot him a look, but Clark just shrugged.

“Don’t worry. I’ll leave enough of him for the cops to scrape up after.”

Harry snorted, stepping up beside Clark with a dark grin. 

“Get in line, psycho. I’m taking the first crack at him.”

Ro crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. 

“You both back off. I’ve been itching for a reason like this. When we catch that bastard, he’s mine.”

Clark’s grin widened, teeth flashing in the dim light. 

“Alright then, gentlemen...We’ll just call it a group project.”

Their words were a blur in my ears, but their fury... it filled the room like heat.

I wanted to tell them to stop. 

To shut up. 

But my mouth wouldn’t move.

Zion’s grip tightened around me, his body pressing closer, like he was trying to shield me from the darkness threatening to swallow me whole. 

His thumb dug into the side of my arm, slow, deliberate—grounding me—because he could feel me slipping, falling apart.

Zion’s eyes darkened, a slow, dangerous smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

“Group project, huh?” His voice dropped low, razor-sharp and dripping with menace. 

“Fine. But just so we’re clear—I’m the one who breaks the bastard first. What he did to Toby? That’s nothing. Nothing compared to what I’m going to do to him. I’ll show that fucker what real fucking terror looks like.”

His breath shuddered against my skin

“I swear to fucking hell, I won’t let that bastard get away with this,” he growled, voice thick with rage, vibrating through my bones like a thunderclap. 

“Whoever did this whoever had the balls to hurt you, to fuck with what’s mine—they’re gonna pay. Not just pay, they’re gonna bleed for it. I’ll hunt his sorry ass down, make sure he knows exactly what it means to cross me... to cross us.”

His breath was hot against my ear, raw and fierce. 

"Whoever did this bastard shit to Toby—he’s gonna wish he’d never been born. No one—no fucking piece of trash—is going to get away with hurting you or anything you love.”

His whole body was trembling with furious energy.

His eyes burned into mine, fierce and protective. “Snowflake. Is. Mine. And no one—no one—is allowed to touch what’s mine.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, but the image of Toby—what was left of him—was burned behind my eyelids like a brand.

I heard their words—Clark’s twisted threats, Harry’s growl, Ro’s lethal calm, and Zion’s voice like a vow carved in blood—promising vengeance. Promising war.

And for a moment, God help me, a part of me wanted to believe it.

That they could take this monster down.

That maybe, just maybe, justice wasn’t some far-off dream.

Their rage was fierce, unfiltered. The kind that burns down kingdoms.

The kind that would die for me.

But then—

That message.

You shouldn’t have told them.

The memory of it slithered through my mind, cold and poisonous.

And all at once, the fire was gone.

Replaced by dread.

A tidal wave of panic surged through me, clawing up my throat.

No. No, ,n,o no.

What if they got hurt?

What if he turned on them next?

What if he already had?

“No!” I choked out the word, sharp and strangled—ripped from the tightness in my chest. It shattered the air like broken glass.

My hands flew to my ears, palms pressed hard, as if I could block it all out—their voices, the rage, the terrifying certainty that this was all spiralling out of control.

“Stop… just stop!” I gasped, my breath hitching, chest heaving like I couldn’t get enough air.

“Snowflake—” Zion’s voice broke through, soft but rough.

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

I couldn’t.

They didn’t understand.

They thought they were helping. They thought they were protecting me.

But all I could see was blood. A box. Toby’s fur matted and soaked and gone.

And all I could hear was his voice slithering back through the cracks in my mind—

'You shouldn’t have told them.'