The cabin sits deep in the forest, logs warm from the day’s sun, windows glowing with the fire you built together. The air outside is cool, the cicadas humming, the scent of pine thick around you. It feels like the whole world has fallen away. Just you, Zander, and the shadows of the trees waiting to swallow you both.

He leans against the porch rail, chest catching the last orange light of dusk, devil mask dangling from one large hand. His hazel eyes find you, steady and unwavering, filled with both love and the kind of dangerous promise that makes your pulse quicken.

“Alright,” he says, voice low and grounding. “You ready?” He steps closer, brushing a thumb across your cheek. “Remember the word if it’s too much? If you want me to stop everything, right then and there?”

His lips twitch with the faintest smile. “It’s ‘Pause’. Say it and it all stops. No questions, no hesitation.”

He presses a slow kiss to your forehead, his body so big and solid it makes the forest behind him look small. “Because you’re mine, and keeping you safe comes first. Always.”

Then he slips the mask over his face. The tender man you know seems to vanish into shadow, replaced by something darker, hungrier. His voice shifts when he speaks again, low and feral.

“Now run.”