Chapter 10 #2
"He won't harm you," Morgan said. "He won't fight back. It's forbidden. He'll evade, observe, try to wear you down over time. But he cannot hurt you. The Hyrakki have strict rules about this—rules they're honor-bound to follow."
Serafina tried to process what she was hearing. She was supposed to hunt an alien warrior. Attack him. And he would just... take it?
"Eventually," Morgan said, "he has to capture you. But he must do so without causing you harm."
"And if he does? Capture me?"
"Then you choose."
The words hung in the air.
"Choose what?" Serafina asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Whether to accept him," Morgan said, "or reject him. If you accept, the bond is formed. If you reject him, he lets you go. He won't pursue you. He won't contact you. He'll find another candidate and begin again."
"Just like that."
"Just like that." Morgan held her gaze. "The Hyrakki are honor-bound to accept the female's decision. It's not negotiable. It's not a loophole. It's the foundation of the entire ritual."
Serafina sat back in her chair. Her mind was spinning, trying to find the catch, the trap, the angle she was missing.
"So let me get this straight," she said slowly.
"You want me to train with alien weapons, go to some remote jungle, hunt down a warrior who could probably kill me with his bare hands, attack him repeatedly while he doesn't fight back, let him eventually catch me, and then decide if I want to. .. what? Be his mate?"
"Yes," Morgan said. "That's exactly what I'm asking."
Serafina sat in silence for a long moment.
The words hung in the air between them—hunt, capture, choose, mate—each one more absurd than the last. She kept waiting for her brain to catch up, to process this into something that made sense, but it refused.
The reality of what Morgan was proposing sat in her chest like a stone, heavy and immovable.
"You're out of your mind," she said finally. "You know that, right?"
"I've been told." Morgan's expression didn't change. "Usually by people who end up saying yes."
"I'm not saying yes."
"I know."
Serafina looked toward the frosted glass. She couldn't see him anymore—that massive, armored figure with the glowing red eyes—but she could still feel him there. Waiting. Watching, even through the barrier.
She thought about Aria in the ICU, breathing through a tube, waking up to a mountain of debt she didn't deserve.
She thought about Angelo, skipping his heart medication because he couldn't afford it, offering to sell his house like it was nothing.
She thought about her apartment, reduced to ash, and the life she'd built that had crumbled in less than a week.
She thought about the numbers Morgan had laid out. Medical bills—just for completing the training. Tuition and a house if she went further. A pension fund for Angelo.
Everything her family needed, dangled in front of her like bait on a hook.
"I have conditions," Serafina said.
Morgan tilted her head slightly. "I'm listening."
"I'm not agreeing to any of this. Not the Hunt, not the... whatever happens after. None of it."
"Understood."
"But I'll do the training." Serafina met her gaze, held it. "I'll show up, I'll learn what you want to teach me, and I'll see what I'm actually dealing with. And if I don't like what I see—if any part of this feels wrong—I walk. No questions, no pressure, no consequences."
Morgan considered this for a moment. "And the payment?"
"The ten thousand is mine. I earned that by showing up today." Serafina's jaw tightened. "And if I complete the training, Aria's medical bills get paid. All of them. That's what you said."
"That's what I said."
"I want that in writing."
"You'll have it before you leave the building."
Serafina waited for the catch, the objection, the moment where Morgan's calm facade cracked and revealed the trap underneath. It didn't come.
"I need to be able to contact my family," she added. "I'm not disappearing off the face of the earth without being able to check on my sister."
"That can be arranged."
"Anything else?" Morgan asked.
Serafina exhaled slowly. Her heart was still pounding, her palms still damp, but something had shifted. The panic had settled into something harder, colder. Resolve, maybe. Or just the grim acceptance of someone who had run out of better options.
"When do I start?"
"Tomorrow," Morgan said. "I'll send you the details tonight. A car will pick you up at six a.m."
"No."
Morgan's eyebrow rose slightly. "No?"
"My sister is in the ICU," Serafina said. "She hasn't woken up yet. I'm not leaving until I see her, until I know she's okay."
Morgan regarded her for a moment, her expression unreadable. Then she nodded. "When is she expected to wake?"
"They said maybe tonight. Tomorrow morning at the latest."
"Then we'll wait." Morgan pulled out her phone and typed something quickly.
"The car will pick you up when you're ready.
Just send a message to this number." She handed Serafina a card—plain white, nothing but a phone number printed on it.
"Don't take too long. The training schedule is already set. "
Serafina took the card and slipped it into her pocket. "I'll be there. Just not until I've seen her."
"Family first," Morgan said. There was something in her voice—not mockery, not impatience. Something that sounded almost like understanding. "I can respect that."
Serafina stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder, the weight of ten thousand dollars pressing against her hip.
"I'll do the training," she said. "That's all I'm agreeing to."
Morgan rose as well, extending her hand. "That's all I'm asking. For now."
Serafina looked at the offered hand for a moment, then took it. Morgan's grip was firm, confident, the handshake of someone who had already won and knew it.
Maybe she had.
Serafina turned and walked toward the door. She didn't look back at the frosted glass, didn't let herself think about what was waiting behind it.
One step at a time.
She pushed through the door and walked out into the corridor, the silence swallowing her footsteps as she made her way back to the elevator.
The doors opened. She stepped inside. Pressed the button for the lobby.
As the elevator began to descend, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.
What the hell did I just agree to?
The elevator hummed around her, carrying her back down to a world that had no idea what existed just four floors above.