6. The Shadow
THE SHADOW
“ H ello, brother. Did you miss me?”
My feet felt rooted to the floor, my body frozen as I stared across Ava’s bedroom, my eyes locked on a ghost.
For a moment, my mind refused to believe what it was seeing.
Ty.
He stood there, leaning casually against the wall like a shadow brought to life.
The same face I’d spent years trying to forget. The same face I saw every time I looked in the mirror. My brother. My dead brother.
I blinked hard, my breath catching in my chest.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
Ty died in prison months ago. I dropped black roses onto his casket in the ground. I broke down over his fucking grave, and I’d buried the grief deep enough to forget how raw it used to feel.
Had I hit my head? Had Ava’s return—her kiss— overwhelmed me so much that my brain had finally cracked? Was I hallucinating him because of the guilt gnawing away at me since the day I broke my promise?
“I promise I will never touch her. She’s yours, Ty.”
I shot a glance back at Ava, desperate for confirmation, for proof that this wasn’t some cruel hallucination conjured by my unraveling mind. That she could see him too. That I wasn’t losing my grip on reality.
“He’s alive,” she said softly, her lips curving into an uncertain smile.
Alive.
The word echoed in my head, ricocheting like a bullet, but it only made the room feel like it was spinning faster.
I turned back to Ty, my chest tight, my pulse erratic. The sight of him, solid and standing there, did nothing to slow the storm in my mind.
“You’re alive,” I whispered, my voice hoarse, disbelieving. The words felt heavy, foreign, like they didn’t belong in my mouth.
Relief slammed into me like a freight train, so powerful it almost brought me to my knees. He was alive. My brother was alive. My twin. My blood. The part of me I thought I’d lost forever.
I took him in, piece by piece, the sheer brutality of his presence cutting through the room like a blade. His figure was harder, sharper, every line of his body carved with purpose.
The coldness in his glare was unrelenting, a stark contrast to the brother I once knew.
Black tattoos snaked across his forearms, dark and menacing, each one an unspoken story I didn’t recognize .
The boy I had grown up with was gone, replaced by a man I didn’t know—a stranger wearing my brother’s face.
“I’m alive,” he repeated, his voice low and bitter, as his lips curled into a humorless smirk. “Disappointed?”
Guilt slammed into me like a fist to the gut.
He was alive.
And I’d betrayed him in every way that mattered.
The memory of Ava’s lips on mine hit me like a slap, her warmth still lingering, her love etched into every fiber of my being.
My chest tightened as the truth threatened to choke me.
I had broken my promise. I hadn’t just touched her. I’d taken her, fallen in love with her, stolen her.
I couldn’t even deny it. I had kissed Ava like she was mine right in front of him.
And now Ty stood here, watching me like he knew every shameful thought running through my head.
“What is happening?” I demanded, my tone sharper than I intended as my confusion and panic bubbled to the surface. My head was spinning, and I couldn’t put the pieces together fast enough.
I turned to Ava, my gaze hard, desperate. “Where the hell have you been? I thought you were dead.”
She opened her mouth, but no words came out, her expression caught between guilt and something unreadable.
I swung back to Ty, unable to keep still, unable to think straight.
“And you…” I jabbed a finger toward him, anger and disbelief warring in my chest. “You’re supposed to be dead, too ! What the fuck is going on? ”
Ty’s smirk faded, his expression darkening, and the weight of his stare made my stomach twist.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all, but the answers felt just out of reach, taunting me.
Everything I thought I knew, everything I thought was certain, was unraveling before my eyes.
And the worst part? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the truth.
“Ava, darling.” Ty’s voice cut through the tension like a blade, calm but sharp enough to draw blood. “Perhaps you want to tell him.”
Darling?
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. Her glare could have melted stone, but Ty didn’t even flinch.
She turned to me, her expression shifting, her shoulders tightening as if bracing for impact.
“Ciaran,” she said carefully, her voice laced with something that set every nerve in me on edge. “Maybe you should sit down.”
My anger flared, hot and uncontrollable, rising like a tidal wave.
“I don’t need to sit down,” I growled, my voice cutting through the air. “I need someone to tell me what the fuck is going on. Right. Now.”
She flinched, just barely, but I caught it. I saw the way her gaze darted away, guilt flashing in her eyes like a warning siren.
The sight of it sent a fresh wave of panic crashing through me, icy and suffocating.
What the hell was she guilty about ?
My stomach churned, my fists clenching as my thoughts raced.
Fear slammed into me, sharp and unrelenting. Why had she come back with him ? Why was my dead brother standing here, alive and looking far too calm, as if he’d been waiting for this moment all along?
And most of all—what did that guilt in her eyes mean? What had she done?
“Well,” Ava began, her voice quiet but steady, as if bracing herself for the explosion she knew was coming, “Ty… saved me before Cormac could hand me over to the Society.”
My glare snapped to her, my anger boiling over before I could stop it.
“That was three fucking months ago,” I spat, my voice rising with every word. “No word. No call. Nothing . I thought you were being tortured in a goddamn basement. I thought you were dead .”
The last word came out louder than I intended, echoing in the room like a gunshot.
Ava shuffled awkwardly, her gaze dropping to the floor, her discomfort painfully obvious.
“I’m sorry,” she said, barely above a whisper. “Ty wouldn’t let me…”
She trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish. The unspoken truth hit me like a hammer to the chest.
Ty kept her from me .
I turned my fury on him, my jaw tightening as the realization crystallized.
“What did you do with her?” I growled, stepping forward, my fists clenched at my sides. “Where did you take her?”
Ty stood his ground, unbothered by the heat of my rage, his voice calm, almost detached. “I was helping her face her demons.”
“You what ?” I roared, closing the space between us, my face inches from his.
“I took her back to Blackthorn,” he said evenly, meeting my gaze without a flicker of hesitation. “I took her home .”
The words slammed into me like a truck, leaving me reeling. My mind raced, piecing together the implications of what he’d just said.
Ava remembered. She knew.
I spun around, the room tilting beneath me as the weight of it all crashed over me.
I was stunned speechless as my gaze landed on her, her expression a mixture of hurt, guilt, and something I couldn’t quite place.
She knew. She knew the lies I’d told her. The things I’d let her believe. The truths I’d buried to protect her.
“Ava…” Her name came out a whisper, an apology already forming on my lips as I stepped toward her, my chest tightening at the pain in her eyes. “Ava, please… we need to talk.”
Behind me, Ty chuckled, the sound low and sharp. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I ignored him. He didn’t matter right now. Nothing did except her.
The weight of her gaze was crushing, and all I could think about was explaining, begging for forgiveness if that’s what it took .
I’m sorry. I was only trying to protect you.
I took another step toward her, my hand reaching out as if I could erase the hurt with a single touch, but before I could speak, the sound of the front door opening and closing cut through the air.
The click of heels on the stairs followed, precise and deliberate, and then Ebony’s voice, expectant but laced with worry, a sharp contrast to the charged atmosphere in the room.
“Ava?”
Ava turned toward the sound, her expression flickering with relief and something else—something I couldn’t name.
She must have called Ebony to let her know she was back.
But I wasn’t ready for interruptions. Not now, not when everything was unraveling.
“Wait—Ava,” I said again, desperate to keep her attention, to say what I needed to say before she could turn away. Before I lost her completely.
“Just a minute, Ebony,” Ava called out, her voice steady, too steady. “I’m in the bathroom.”
Then she turned to Ty. To Ty. Not to me. Her gaze was sharp, her voice low and urgent. “Get him out of here.”
The words hit me like a slap, a cold wave crashing over the fire of my anger. Get him out of here. Like they were a team. Like they were against me.
Ty didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the collar of my shirt, his grip firm and unyielding. Before I could process it, he was dragging me toward the balcony door.
“What the fuck—?” I started to fight him, shoving back against his grip, my fists ready to fly .
But Ty leaned in close, his voice cutting through my fury like steel. “Don’t be a fucking eejit. Not here.”
His tone was sharp and urgent—a warning.
A crack of logic seeped into my desperation, cooling the reckless edge of my anger.
He was right. Not here. Not now.
We couldn’t let Ebony—or her damn bodyguards—catch us here.
I clenched my fists, every muscle in my body screaming for a fight, but I forced myself to nod.
Relief flashed across Ty’s face for a brief moment before he pushed the balcony door open, the cool night air rushing in like a slap. He nudged me forward.
I slipped out onto Ava’s dark balcony, the faint scent of ivy and damp stone wrapping around us.
Behind me, Ebony’s voice drifted through the quiet night, elated and warm. “Ava! My goodness. My driver said you weren’t at the Sheraton. What happened to you?”
The stone balustrade was slick under my palm as Ty and I climbed over it, the ivy tangled and twisting, threatening to snag on every step.
My breath came fast and sharp, my pulse pounding in my ears as I led him through the shadows and through a rusted side gate onto the property next door.
And then suddenly I was alone with my dead brother.
Ty stared at the front door of the mansion next to Ava’s—the one I’d been calling home for the last few months—his eyes lingering on the intricate wrought-iron fixtures, his hands shoved casually into his pockets, like he hadn’t just upended my entire world .
“So,” he said, his tone infuriatingly casual, “are you going to invite me in?”
I stared at my twin, my mind still trying to process that he was standing there in front of me on the front lawn under the dim moonlight.
You’re alive. You’re really alive.
Relief crashed over me like a tidal wave, overwhelming and unexpected.
For a moment, the miracle of having him returned to me hit me, and all I wanted was to wrap his arms around him to make sure he was real.
“Fuck, Ty… I…” I began, my voice breaking.
A flicker of emotion crossed his face—something raw, unguarded. For just a second, I saw the Ty I remembered, the boy I grew up with.
“I… missed you too,” he said, his voice softer than I expected.
I remembered how I’d watched from afar as his wooden coffin was lowered into the ground, only a priest standing over him, unable to believe that he was gone. I’d stood over his grave, the rain soaking through my clothes, the weight of grief crushing me, feeling like a part of me had died.
I’d stared at the gravestone, my vision blurred by tears I couldn’t hold back, my knees buckling as I finally let myself break. I’d whispered apologies to the cold, unyielding ground, begged for forgiveness for not being there, for letting him die alone in a prison.
The pain of losing him had carved itself into my chest, a hollow ache I’d thought would never heal.
Now I wondered who had been in his coffin instead, who I had mourned. And whether my brother had been watching me break down over his grave.
My fist connected with his jaw, the impact reverberating up my arm.
“You let me think you were dead!” I roared, the betrayal boiling over, spilling out of me.
He staggered back, his eyes flashing with surprise.
I swung again, and though Ty managed to block the next blow, I felt the heat of my anger driving me forward, unstoppable. “Do you have any idea what that did to me?”
Ty raised his hands, defending himself, but his voice remained maddeningly calm.
“It was unfortunate,” he said, sidestepping another punch. “But necessary for my escape from prison. Don’t take it so personally.”
“Personally?” I laughed bitterly, the sound ripping from my throat. “You could have told me after you escaped. Instead, you let me believe it for months. Months , Ty!”
The pieces started to fall into place, the truth settling in my gut like a stone.
He hadn’t told me because he hadn’t wanted me to know. He hadn’t wanted me to suspect that he had taken Ava.
This whole time I’d been hunting down the Sochai, and my own fucking brother had her.
Ty and I circled each other on the damp grass, the moonlight casting a ghostly sheen over his face, making his cold eyes seem almost lifeless. Every muscle in my body coiled tight, my breaths shallow as I waited for the right moment to strike.
“You had Ava for months ,” I growled, my voice low, dangerous. “You could have told me. I was losing my fucking mind thinking she was dead .”
Ty didn’t flinch, his calm demeanor infuriatingly unshaken. “I couldn’t let you know I had her. You would have interfered with my plans.”
Plans? My stomach twisted at the word. What plans? What the hell had he been doing with her for months?
“What did you do to her?” I demanded, my voice rising, the venom in my tone undeniable.
His jaw tightened, his composure beginning to fracture. For a split second, something flickered in his eyes—something too fleeting to name.
“I made her face her past,” he said, each word cold and unrepentant.
“You what ?” The words ripped from my throat, pure fury taking hold.
I lunged at him, my anger exploding into motion, the sheer force of it sending us both crashing to the ground.
We rolled, the damp earth clinging to our clothes, the world narrowing to the sound of labored breaths and the sharp crack of fists meeting flesh. Every blow carried the weight of years—grief, betrayal, anger—all of it boiling over into this moment.
“I made her stronger,” he said, his voice edged with accusation. “Something you didn’t have the guts to do.”
“You asshole,” I roared, pinning him beneath me, my hands fisting the collar of his shirt. “You hurt her.”
My elbow dug into his ribs, and he hissed in pain, but his knee came up sharply, narrowly missing my stomach.
“I saved her,” he spat out as he tried to shove me off him. “And I will take her back. ”
“She loves me !” I shouted, desperation mingling with my anger.
He shifted his weight suddenly, twisting his hips, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back, the breath knocked out of me.
Ty pinned me, his forearm pressing against my throat just enough to keep me down.
“Only because you broke your promise,” Ty hissed, his words cutting deeper than any punch.
Guilt surged through me, relentless and brutal. He was right. I’d sworn to him that I wouldn’t touch her.
And I’d broken that promise in every way imaginable. The weight of my betrayal twisted inside me, throwing off my focus.
Ty’s next hit connected with my jaw, sharp and brutal.
“You don’t deserve her,” he spat, his eyes blazing as he hit me again. And again.
I lifted my arms over my face to defend myself, absorbing the blows. But my guilt slowed my defenses, weakening my arms as I felt the weight of everything I’d done.
“She was always mine,” Ty said, his voice like a final verdict, each word dripping with conviction.
Rage flared hot inside me, chasing away the guilt. I snarled, twisting beneath him, using the momentum to roll us again. I clawed for leverage, finally managing to get on top.
“That’s not your choice,” I snarled. “That’s hers .”
With one final shove, we tumbled apart, collapsing onto the wet grass, bruised and bloodied, both too exhausted to move .
The silence stretched between us, broken only by our ragged breaths.
I glanced over at him, my twin, the brother I barely recognized anymore with motives I couldn’t read, couldn’t trust. His face was smeared with dirt, a thin trickle of blood running from his split lip.
The calculated calm in his expression unnerved me, setting my nerves on edge.
What was his endgame? Ava? Revenge? Or something I couldn’t see coming?
“She’s chosen,” I said, my voice low, bitter. “She chose me .”
Ty chuckled, a hollow sound that made my stomach twist. “Are you sure about that, brother?”
His words lingered, filling the quiet with doubt I couldn’t shake.
My mind flashed to Ava—to the way she had looked at him, the guilt in her eyes, the shift in her that I couldn’t ignore. My chest tightened, the fear like a blade twisting deep.
Did she love me enough? Would I end up being the one she wanted?
Ty pushed himself to his feet with a deliberate, almost casual ease, then extended a hand to me.
I grasped his hand, letting him haul me up.
“This isn’t over,” he said, his voice calm, yet laced with a quiet menace that made my jaw clench. “I’ll keep fighting for her.”
“And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her,” I shot back, my voice hard as steel, every word a challenge.
“Then may the best brother win.”