It was Kael's idea. It always was.
He crashed into the common lounge at dusk, hair dripping from the showers, shirt hanging open, eyes bright with trouble.
"Emergency intervention," he announced, vaulting the couch to land next to Tobias. "One full year of you being a tragic, overworked miracle. That ends tonight. Club Heaven. Whole squad. No arguments."
Elyndra glanced up from her scroll long enough to raise an eyebrow. "Exams in nine days."
"Nine days is forever," Kael said. "Plenty of time to recover from one bad night."
Seraphine unfolded from the shadows with a slow smile that promised complications. "I'm in."
Garron grunted from his corner, arms folded tight.
Kael grinned wider. "See? He's excited."
Garron's answering rumble shook the windows.
An hour later they were moving through Eldoria's neon veins like a storm looking for a place to break.
Kael led, shirt shifting colors with every step, waving at vendors and bouncers like he owned the city. Seraphine glided beside him in black silk that caught light and gave nothing back. Every few strides she looked over her shoulder at Tobias, smile soft and sharp at once.
Elyndra walked quietly, silver dress flowing, eyes wide at the street magic flickering overhead. Garron brought up the rear in dark jeans and a black shirt stretched to its limits, expression set in permanent suspicion.
The streets grew louder, brighter. Music spilled from doorways. Spells painted lazy auroras across the sky. The air tasted of ozone, sweat, and anticipation.
Seraphine dropped back to match Tobias's stride. Her shoulder brushed his deliberately.
"First time in the city like this?" she asked, voice low.
"First time anywhere that isn't training or deployment."
She smiled. "Then let tonight teach you something new."
Her fingers grazed his wrist, cool and certain. Heat answered under his skin (not the borrowed fire, just ordinary want). It startled him how good it felt.
Club Heaven rose ahead like a cathedral built for sin: black marble shot through with living gold, holographic angels beating wings of violet flame above the entrance. Bass thumped deep enough to rearrange organs.
The crowd parted for them without being asked. Whispers followed.
A human with that squad? Must be somebody.
Garron's low growl cut the murmurs short. The wolf bouncers at the door straightened.
"Alpha."
Garron nodded once. Their eyes slid to Tobias, curious.
Kael slung an arm around him. "New blood. Needs corrupting."
The bouncers laughed and lifted the rope. The line behind them groaned.
Inside, the club swallowed them.
Sound hit first (heavy heartbeat bass). Then light: enchanted smoke curling into wings, bodies moving under strobing spells. The air was thick with sweat, magic, and every race trying to pretend the others didn't exist.
Werewolves clustered at one end of the bar, shoulders tense whenever a vampire drifted too close. Vampires held the opposite corner, crimson eyes tracking every shifter that passed. Fae light crackled between tables when stares lingered too long. A group of shifters near the dance floor shifted subtly (skin rippling as if deciding whether to change). The Accord's peace felt thin here, stretched tight over old grudges waiting for an excuse.
At the bar, bottles floated in slow orbits. The vampire bartender slid five glowing shots across without a word.
Kael raised his. "To terrible decisions."
They drank. The liquor burned sweet and electric.
That was when the shriek cut through.
"Kael!"
A blur of auburn curls launched over the bar and into his arms. The kiss was messy and loud.
Tobias studied the ceiling politely.
The girl pulled back, breathless. "You disappeared for months, you menace."
"Saving the world Gail," Kael said, voice softer than usual, something tired behind the grin. "Takes time. And pieces of you."
She kissed him again, gentler this time, then spotted Tobias.
Her eyes lit. "Fresh company." She tugged another woman forward. "Amira, look."
Amira stepped into the light.
Dark curls framed a face that hit Tobias like recognition he couldn't place. Warm violet eyes, a smile that started slow and landed like sunlight on skin. The way she tucked a curl behind her ear felt familiar in a way that tightened his chest.
He stared too long.
Kael noticed. "Easy. Your face is doing that intense thing again."
Amira tilted her head. "Do I have something on me?"
"Sorry," Tobias managed. "You remind me of someone."
Kael snorted. "Smooth."
Amira laughed, easy and bright. "I get that a lot. One of those faces." She offered her hand. "Amira."
"Tobias."
She repeated it like she was testing the weight. "I like it."
They talked while Kael caught up with his friend. Amira leaned on the bar, close enough that her shoulder brushed his every time she laughed. She asked about training, about the squad, about what a human was doing running with legends. Tobias found himself answering more than he usually did, words coming easier under her warmth.
"You don't seem like the type to need rescuing," he said at one point.
She grinned. "I'm full of surprises."
She told him about growing up in the mixed districts, dodging fae wards and werewolf patrols just to sneak into places like this. About nights when the city felt alive instead of divided. Her voice was warm, stories vivid, and every time she laughed it pulled something loose in his chest.
"You ever get tired of it?" she asked quietly during a lull in the music. "Carrying all that weight for the Accord?"
"Some days," he admitted. "Tonight I'm trying not to."
She bumped his shoulder gently. "Good. You deserve nights where the only thing you carry is a drink."
Behind him, Seraphine appeared without sound, cool fingers settling on the back of his neck.
"Careful," she murmured. "Some things aren't for sharing."
Amira's gaze flicked to the hand, to crimson eyes, and didn't back down. "Good thing he's not a thing."
The air chilled. Tobias felt Seraphine's grip tighten.
He stepped sideways, breaking contact. "Drinks?"
Kael raised his glass. "To dangerous friends."
They drank again.
The music shifted, deeper, slower. Lights bled red and indigo.
Seraphine leaned close. "Dance with me."
It wasn't a question.
On the floor she moved like she owned rhythm itself, body rolling against his in slow waves. Every touch deliberate: hips brushing, cold fingers down his spine, breath against his throat.
Across the crowd Tobias caught more flashes of tension (a werewolf shoving a vampire at the bar, fae sparks flying when someone cut in line). The club felt like dry tinder.
Seraphine noticed none of it. Her hands framed his face.
"You could be magnificent," she said, voice low. "If you stopped being afraid."
Her fangs grazed his skin, not breaking, just promising.
Heat flared in him (ordinary and not). She pressed closer, nails dragging lightly down his arms, lips brushing his jaw, then the corner of his mouth. Her body molded to his, slow and relentless, every movement designed to pull him under.
"You feel it," she whispered. "The want. Stop fighting it."
She spun him slowly, back to her chest, arms crossing over his, guiding his hands to her hips. Her lips found the side of his neck again, lingering, fangs a constant promise. The crowd blurred around them, bodies moving but distant. All he felt was cold skin and deliberate pressure, her breath cool against his ear as she spoke words too low for anyone else.
"I could take you apart," she breathed. "Piece by piece. And put you back together better."
For a moment he leaned in, hands tightening on her waist, pulse thundering.
Kael's voice cut through. "Lovebirds! Drinks before Garron starts growling at strangers."
Seraphine pulled back a fraction, smile sharp. "Later."
Tobias escaped to the terrace for air.
The night sky opened above, city lights glittering below. Cold bit clean and sharp.
Amira appeared beside him a minute later, leaning on the railing.
"Needed a break from the vampire?" she asked, amused.
"Needed cool air."
She laughed softly. "Seraphine's intense."
"That's one word."
They stood in quiet a moment, shoulders almost touching. She told him more about the city she loved (hidden fae gardens, shifter markets at dawn, places where the races mixed without pretending). He listened, surprised how easy it felt to just stand there with her.
"You don't seem scared now," she said.
"Tonight I'm trying not to be."
She bumped his shoulder gently. "Good. You should get to have nights like this."
Her hand brushed his on the railing, warm and steady. She didn't move it away.
Then frost cracked the air.
Seraphine stood in the doorway, eyes black with fury.
"Hands off."
Amira didn't move. "We're talking."
Seraphine stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "I don't share."
The temperature dropped hard. Tobias moved between them.
"Seraphine…"
She blurred.
Claws flashed toward Amira's throat.
Amira twisted aside with surprising speed, violet light flaring around her fingers (fae wards snapping into place, bright and defensive).
Seraphine snarled and struck again, faster. Claws raked air where Amira had been. Amira countered with a pulse of light that forced Seraphine back a step, hair whipping in the magical wind.
Tobias grabbed Seraphine's wrist. "Stop."
She rounded on him, eyes wild. "You're defending her?"
"I'm stopping this."
Seraphine yanked free, fangs fully extended now. "She's touching what she shouldn't."
"I'm not anyone's," Tobias said quickly.
For a heartbeat hurt flickered across her face, raw and unexpected. Then rage swallowed it.
She lunged again (this time at him).
Elyndra's power hit like winter itself. Seraphine flew backward, skidding across stone.
"Enough," Elyndra said, voice quiet and absolute.
Inside, Kael's delighted shout: "Bar fight!"
Bodies poured onto the terrace (shifters snarling, vampires hissing, old tensions igniting like dry grass).
A fae fist made of starlight caught Tobias in the jaw. He staggered.
A vampire boot to the ribs folded him.
Pain exploded white-hot.
Something inside him snapped wide open.
Heat roared through his veins, vision bleeding gold at the edges. Golden lines flickered beneath his skin for a heartbeat, bright and unfamiliar.
He surged up with a sound that wasn't human.
Grabbed the vampire by the shirt and threw.
The body flew twenty feet, cracked marble, didn't rise.
Silence rippled.
Then chaos doubled.
Fists, fangs, spells. The terrace became a battlefield wearing party lights.
Tobias moved through it without thinking (too fast, too strong).
Pain cracked across the back of his skull.
The world tilted.
He looked up through watering eyes and saw Garron standing over him, fist raised again.
The last thing he heard before black took him was a voice inside his head, soft and certain.
Stop holding back.
Then nothing.