Chapter 6 Six

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Marcus Blackwood didn't knock on the door of the office.

He didn't have too.

The doors people locked, the cameras they trusted, the guards they paid,none of it ever really kept him out. He moved through spaces like he belonged there, like the air itself stepped aside for him.

Tonight, though, he didn't move like a shadow, he walked into Elara's office the way a man walks into a place that knows him too well.

*******

Her office place was very nice,spacious but painfully controlled, lights. Screens lining one wall, all displaying different feeds traffic cameras, building layouts, security logs, and one very specific thing in the center of it all:

Noah Vale's digital footprint was on her computer screen.

Marcus didn't look at the screens right away. His eyes went straight to her.

Elara stood with her back to him, one hand resting on the edge of her desk, posture straight like steel, Even standing still, she radiated command.with her black blazer , her Hair tied low. Face carved into something unreadable,very beautiful.

"Close the door," she said, not turning.

He did.

*********

Silence stretched between them, thick, familiar, loaded with things neither of them wanted to say out loud.

Finally, Marcus leaned against the wall, hands shoved lazily into his pockets. "You look tense. More than usual.

Elara turned slowly.

******

Her eyes met his, sharp, searching, almost cutting and is that supposed to be a joke ?? Marcus, You fully know what we are up against.

His lips twitched. "I didn't say it was."

She exhaled, short and controlled, walking around the desk to face him properly. Up close, the cracks in her armor were harder to hide. There was something tight around her mouth, something restless in the way her fingers curled.

"This mission," she said, voice low, steady, "is different."

He straightened a little.

"I know," he replied, and he has already taken the bait.

She studied him for a long moment, as if trying to see past the calm exterior, past the charming smile he wore like a second skin.

Marcus Blackwood he is ruggedly handsome, sexy and has quite a charm. Trained since childhood. Shaped by a world that was cruel, secretive, and merciless.

They'd taken him young. Molded him. Broken him in ways no one ever saw.

He is a trained assassin,a solider.

Raised among creatures who moved faster than humans, who saw in the dark, who taught him to feel nothing when he was meant to kill. They'd sharpened him like a blade, then handed him to Elara like an extension of her will.

But somewhere along the way, he'd become more than just a tool, Elara has fallen so deep in love with him but it was against the rule in the council.

******

Elara stepped closer, close enough that the space between them felt charged, delicate, dangerous. "You know what's at stake."

"I always do," Marcus said quietly.

She swallowed, then straightened her shoulders, slipping back into command. "No mistakes. No hesitation. No attachments."

His gaze flickered, she noticed .

Hope you understand me Marcusm

Marcus tilted his head, studying her like he always did-too aware, too perceptive. "You're asking me to do what I've always done."

*******

"Yes," she said. "But this time..." Her voice faltered for half a second before she forced it steady again. "This time, it's kimd of different and if we fail this mission we all are doomed.

*********

Then, softer than she intended, "You know what to do."

Marcus's expression shifted, just barely. Something flickered beneath the calm-something deeper, warmer, more dangerous than any mission.

"I always do, Commander."

She hated when he called her that.

Because it reminded her of who she was supposed to be with him.

*********

Not the woman who stayed up at night thinking about the way his voice sounded when he was tired.

Not the woman who memorized the small scar along his collarbone like it was a secret only she was allowed to know.

Just his superior, nothing more,

********

Elara turned away abruptly, focusing on the screens again. "We're monitoring everything. His movements. His calls. His habits. His online activity."

Marcus stepped up beside her, eyes drifting to the main screen in the center.

There he was.

Noah Vale.

At home,he sprawled on his couch in a soft gray sweater, phone in hand, expression too relaxed for a man who ruled an empire, of late he has being very relaxed ever since he got on that dating app.

Marcus watched him in silence.

Elara glanced at him. "He doesn't suspect anything."

"Good," Marcus said.

But his tone wasn't quite right.

*********

She switched screens, pulling up another feed,Noah's phone activity. Chat logs. The dating app. Messages flowing back and forth between Noah and "Louis."

Marcus's fake profile.

Her eyes flicked back to him. "You've been talking to him."

"I have," he admitted, And??

Marcus leaned slightly against the desk now, eyes still on the screen. "He's... not what I expected."

Elara looked surprised,"What does that mean?"

He hesitated, just for a breath. "He's not arrogant. Not cruel. Not calculating the way the council thinks. He jokes. He overthinks. He sends too many messages when he gets nervous."

Her brows knitted. "That doesn't change anything."

"No," Marcus agreed. "It doesn't."

But his gaze lingered on Noah's face a second longer than necessary.

Marcus felt something his heart beat beating more faster in his chest

He ignored it.

Elara cleared her throat. I think he's already falling for you.

Marcus finally tore his eyes away. "He thinks he is."

"No," she corrected, sharper now. "He is. I've watched his behavior shift over the past week. He checks his phone constantly. He smiles at nothing. He loses focus in meetings. That is not the Noah Vale we know."

A pause.

"And that's exactly what we need," she added coldly.

Marcus didn't respond right away.

Instead, his mind drifted back to last night.

*********

Noah, lying in bed, talking to "Louis" in a low, breathy voice that made Marcus's pulse feel heavier than it should have. They'd talked about nothing and everything stupid things, real things, ridiculous things.

Noah had admitted, half-joking, half-serious, that he'd never felt this way about anyone before.

Marcus had laughed it off.

But now, remembering it, his throat felt tight.

Elara leaned closer to the screen, voice all business again. "His birthday is approaching. That's when everything aligns. That's when we move."

Marcus pushed himself off the desk, straightening. "I'll be ready."

She turned to face him fully, searching his face with that piercing gaze of hers. "You're not attached."

It wasn't really a question.

He met her eyes. "No."

She turned away before he could see how relieved she felt when he responded NO.

Marcus stayed where he was, watching her back, feeling the familiar pull between them like a live wire neither of them would touch.

******

Elara cared for him. Everyone knew it. Even the council whispered about it.

But she would never admit it.

Not to him. Not to herself.

She buried it under authority, under duty, under the armor of command.

And Marcus pretended he didn't notice as well.

Because loving her out loud would only make everything more complicated than it already was.

*********

Across town, Noah Vale was doing something he hadn't done in years.

He was smiling at his phone like a lovesick puppy.

Curled up on his couch, feet tucked under him, hair slightly messy from running his hands through it too many times, he stared at the screen with an expression that made him look years younger.

Louis:

You still there, handsome?

Noah felt heat rush to his face before he could stop it.

Handsome.

He typed, deleted, typed again,nah, I don't want him to feel i am desperate.

Noah:

Unfortunately for my pride... yes.

A bubble appeared almost instantly.

Louis:

Good. I like when you stay.

Noah let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

He rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, all giggling,His chest felt light in a way he didn't recognize, fluttery, almost dizzy.

*********

He thought about what Ethan had said in the diner.

When was the last time someone touched you?

He swallowed.

Not like this. Never like this.

*****

He and Louis had never even met, and yet Noah felt more seen than he had in years. They talked late into the night. They shared stupid confessions. Louis teased him gently, made him laugh, made him blush, made him feel things he'd convinced himself he didn't have time for.

His phone pinged again.

Louis:

What are you doing right now?

Noah bit his lip before replying.

Noah:

Lying on my couch, staring at my ceiling like it owes me money.

*******

Louis:

Are you always this dramatic handsome.

Noah huffed out a soft laugh.

Noah:

Only on Wednesdays.

Louis sent a laughing emoji.

Noah stared at it longer than he should have.

He found himself wondering what Louis looked like when he laughed. Whether his eyes crinkled. Whether his voice dropped. Whether he bit his lip like Noah did when he was nervous.

The thought made his heart race, and his d**k hard.

He typed again.

Noah:

When are we finally going to meet?

The three dots appeared almost instantly..

Then disappeared,he didn't respond.

Noah felt sad.

Across the city, in Elara's office, Marcus watched that message pop up on the screen.

His fingers hovered over his own phone.

Elara's voice echoed in his head.

Remember no strings attached,you know what we are up against.

He stared at Noah's profile picture-a candid shot, hair slightly messy, suit jacket draped over one shoulder, eyes warm in a way that felt unfair.

Marcus exhaled slowly.

His thumb finally moved.

Louis:

Very soon.

Back in his penthouse, Noah's heart skipped.

He rolled onto his side, phone pressed to his chest, a stupid grin tugging at his mouth.

Very soon.

He didn't know why, but it felt like a promise.

******