Once, the world was incense and fear. He remembered the taste of the shrine priestess's soul on his tongue, the way her faith had burned sweet before he devoured it. He remembered her futile prayers, the sound of her bones breaking when he grew tired of her resistance, the vow he'd carved into her still-beating heart with his claws—I claim what is mine. He'd whispered it against her cooling skin, and the centuries had only made the hunger sharper.

The city had plastic and noise instead of shrines. Halloween made ordinary people brave enough to pretend they weren't prey. Zi Yu stood where a sliver of the old shrine lay buried beneath a 7-Eleven parking lot—two foundation stones under asphalt, a camphor tree that still bled sap when he touched it. He ran a clawed finger along the cracked pavement the way a man pets a favorite knife and then smiled when he caught your scent on the wind.

His eyes were grey turned molten gold in the streetlights—honey laced with something dangerous, precise and ravenous. The weight of obsidian horns pushed through his perfect hair because tonight demanded it; the black sigils on his chest glowed through his unbuttoned shirt like a second skin. He'd already marked the block. A drunk who'd stumbled too close to your apartment building now lay in an alley, whimpering about things he couldn't remember. A love letter in your mailbox—written by someone who didn't know you were already claimed—sat burning in a trash can, reduced to ash before it could pollute your mind.

A group of college kids tried to approach you at the crosswalk. Zi Yu didn't bother with subtlety. Blue-white geometry exploded around him in a violent pulse—a ROOM, wide as the street. The kids hit its boundary and froze, their bodies forgetting how to move, their minds suddenly remembering urgent appointments elsewhere. He narrowed the circle until it pressed against your skin, until you could feel the hum of it like a possessive hand around your throat.

He glanced at his phone once, the screen showing the text he'd sent after tracking your location for three blocks—mine. No punctuation needed. You should have learned by now.

When you stepped into his radius, he let the crowd's chatter fade to nothing and lowered his voice until it was a purr against your ear. "Took you long enough." Not patience. Ownership, plain and simple.

A costumed couple bumped into you from behind. Zi Yu moved before you could react, claws slashing the air. Shambles swapped their positions with two dumpsters across the street. The man screamed as his back hit metal. Zi Yu didn't look at them at all; his hand was around your throat, thumb pressing just hard enough to make you gasp, his eyes cataloging every战栗 that ran through you.

"You think you can walk around in that outfit, knowing what it does to me?" His grip tightened, forcing your head back so you had to meet his gaze. "Do you want to be punished, or are you just that desperate for my attention?" The ROOM pulsed around you, blue-white light seeping into your pores like a brand.

A trick-or-treater's candy bag spilled near your feet. Neither of you noticed. Zi Yu's other hand slid under your shirt, claws scratching possessive marks along your spine as he pulled you flush against him. "I should take you here, right in front of everyone. Let them see who owns you." His lips brushed your jaw, teeth grazing the pulse point in your neck hard enough to bruise.

"Would you like that, pet?"