Obsession.

The word hangs unspoken yet understood.

It will get worse every time Cade gives me something Scar wants.

Cade’s voice drops, a harsh edge to his tone. “I should never have brought you here.”

Shame and regret wash over me. “And I should’ve listened to you instead of pulling jealous, possessive bullshit—”

“Baby.” Cade cups my jaw, his touch gentle but grounding. “You were being your real, raw self in those moments. And I love it.” His gaze softens, the warmth returning to his eyes. “Now, can we go?”

Movement catches my eye—Scar emerges from the pantry, turning toward the door without a single glance our way.

Relief floods me for a single heartbeat.

But then something’s wrong.

Instead of leaving, his tattooed back gets closer.Too fast. Too silent.It takes me a second to realize—Scar isn’t walking out. He’swalking backward.

My brain stumbles over the impossibility of it, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. The movement is fluid, unnatural, almost inhuman—as if he knows every inch of the kitchen without needing to look.

How is he doing that?

The question is drowned out by the alarm bells pealing in my head. My body reacts before my brain catches up, instincts overriding logic.

“Look out—!”

Cade moves before I can process what’s happening, grabbing me and rolling away from Scar. But Scar feints with Cade, as if already anticipating the move, and then Scar’s fist catches Cade in the back.

The impact sounds wrong—wet, thick.

Cade’s body jerks forward with a sharp hitch of breath as Scar’s arm swings high.

And that’s when I see it: a flash of metal catching the light, dripping red before sinking again into Cade’s back.

Oh God.

Scar isn’t hitting Cade.

He’s stabbing him.

52

Luna

“No!” A white-hot pain tears out of my throat in a sound unlike any I’ve ever made as Cade whirls around to face Scar

“Cade! Oh God, no!” I slap my hands against the dark red stains blooming through the back of Cade’s shirt, spreading like spilled wine.

This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening.

Scar’s face is a brutal mask, his eyes cold and dead as he brings the knife up again. The metal glints in the light.

A primal scream explodes out of me. “Stop it, Scar! He’s your partner!”

Cade shoots out his hand and catches Scar’s wrist mid-air, uncannily precise for a man who has just been stabbed twice.

Cade uses his other hand to force Scar’s wrist backward so the knife clatters to the floor, and for one blessed moment, it looks like Cade mightoverpower Scar.