Ethan crashed into Adrian with so much force he nearly knocked him backward. Arms wrapped tight around him, face buried in his shoulder, breath shaky like someone who'd been holding the world on his back alone for too long.
"E–Ethan—" Adrian wheezed, laughing through a wince, "if you keep squeezing like that, you're gonna turn me into peanut butter."
Ethan didn't ease up—in fact, he held tighter. "I don't care," he muttered stubbornly, voice muffled and trembling. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again. Ever."
Adrian could feel the desperation in his grip. It wasn't dramatic. It was real. Ethan was shaking.
"What would I have done if I lost you?" Ethan whispered, voice breaking. "I was already thinking… if you were dead, what was left for me here? This world is too big to live alone in it."
Adrian's chest tightened. He wrapped his arms around Ethan and squeezed back slowly, gently, as if steadying him with warmth alone.
"That's never going to happen," Adrian murmured firmly into his hair. "I'm here. I'll always be here. Always."
They didn't move for a long moment. Two brothers holding each other like a promise. Like time had paused just for them. Like breathing only made sense again because the other was breathing too.
Then—
"Ahem."
A pointed, very obvious cough.
Both brothers froze and slowly turned.
Selene stood nearby, arms folded lightly, a tiny amused tilt at her lips as if she'd been watching the emotional chaos with patience and mild entertainment. It worked—Adrian and Ethan separated slightly, awkward but smiling.
Adrian rubbed the back of his neck. "Right. Uh… forgot we weren't alone."
Ethan cleared his throat, wiping the corner of his eye quickly. "Yeah, uh—sorry about that. I'm not usually a koala, I swear."
Adrian shot him a look. "You were definitely a koala just now."
Ethan elbowed him, but his grin was soft, overwhelmed with relief.
Then Adrian turned to Selene. "Ethan… she saved my life."
Ethan's expression shifted immediately—from joking to serious in a heartbeat. "What do you mean?"
Adrian inhaled. And then he spoke.
He told Ethan about the forest. About the darkness and the sudden attack. He didn't say Reya was Selene's sister—he wasn't ready for Ethan to panic all over again. But he explained the fear. The pain. How Ella ran without looking back. How Selene appeared like light in crushing darkness, how she pulled him back from death and carried him to safety, how she cared for him when he couldn't even speak.
Ethan listened like every word mattered.
"And when I woke up… she was there," Adrian finished quietly. "She didn't have to do any of that. But she did."
Ethan swallowed hard, then bowed his head slightly, sincerity heavy in his voice. "Thank you. Really… thank you. We owe you so much."
Selene held his gaze, gentle but unreadable. "You don't owe me anything. I just did what anyone with a heart would do."
Ethan shook his head. "No. Not anyone would've done it." Then he added, softer, "We're in your debt."
Selene said nothing more. Instead, she looked at Adrian, and there was something in her eyes—something too complicated to unravel in one moment.
The silence stretched. Ethan eventually reached for his phone.
"I have to tell the police you're alive." His voice was low. "They think you're dead. Everyone does."
Adrian nodded.
"I'll also clean up and call Jake. And also tell Ella she can choke."
Adrian gave him a small look. "Ethan—"
"What?!" Ethan threw up his hands. "She vanished the moment you disappeared and pretended she didn't know anything. I'm allowed to hate her right now."
Adrian sighed but didn't argue. For once, Ethan had earned the right to be furious.
They both moved toward the front door with Selene quietly behind them. The door creaked open, and cold air filtered into the house. Selene stepped forward first, her gaze sweeping the yard like instinct.
Ethan disappeared into the kitchen, but Adrian lingered outside, letting the breeze hit his skin. He could finally breathe again. He pulled the phone to his ear.
"Inspector Hayes? It's—yeah, it's me. I'm alive."
On the other side of the yard, Selene stood quietly. Watching the treeline. Sharp. Alert. Like a guardian carved out of moonlight.
When Adrian hung up, he turned to her—and her expression softened just slightly.
"Ethan's dramatic," she teased lightly.
Adrian huffed a tiny laugh. "He just… missed me. More than I realized."
Selene nodded with a small smile, and that was when something in Adrian moved—something instinctive and quiet and deep. He didn't plan it. Didn't think it through.
He just stepped toward her and pulled her into him.
No warning. No words beforehand. Just warmth and gravity. His arms wrapped around her, and Selene stiffened, startled—then slowly relaxed enough to breathe.
"Thank you," Adrian whispered against her hair. His voice was low, raw, sincere, shaking only slightly. "Because of you… I'm here. I get to see my brother again. Because of you, I'm alive. You didn't have to save me. But you did. Thank you."
For a heartbeat, everything stilled.
Selene's hands trembled faintly at his back—not fear, not discomfort, but something unfamiliar and dangerous. Something warm. Something she didn't let herself feel.
And then—like a heartbeat swallowed by a spell—she vanished.
One second she was in his arms.
The next, only air remained, and Adrian's arms closed around nothing.
He blinked, stunned. His breath hanging in front of him like frost.
"...Selene?"
A whisper of wind. A faint shimmer.
Silence.
He had never felt so saved and so suddenly alone at the same time.