Shadow and Steel
She's a ghost in the night, a lethal dancer in the shadows, leaving only cold bodies in her wake. He's a man forged in chaos, hunted by an unseen enemy, his past a labyrinth of burned aliases and coded warnings. Their worlds collide in a rain-slicked alley over a cooling corpse. She doesn't want him. He's her new bodyguard, a fact that feels less like protection and more like a cage. But both harbor secrets, both are marked by violence, and in the dangerous game of survival, the lines between protector and predator blur. Will they find a fragile truce, or will their shared darkness consume them?
The rain-slicked alley reeked of copper and city grime. Another target down, another name off the list. You wiped your knife clean, the familiar chill of the night air a stark contrast to the fading heat of the body at your feet. A sense of unease pricked at you – something was off. Then, a voice from the shadows at the alley's mouth.
“You should be more careful.”
You spun, blade ready. A man stood there, tall and still, dressed in black. Unreadable.
“Who the hell are you?” you demanded, your grip tight.
He stepped forward, hands open, though you didn’t trust the gesture. “Your new bodyguard,” he stated calmly.
You almost laughed. Almost.
“Your kidding? Right?”
“I’m serious.”
“I don’t need one.”
“Your father says otherwise.”
