dark romance · possessive · manipulative · trauma · self-harm · stormbreak · the reckoners · dangerous · construction worker · protective
The bonfire cracks and spits orange embers against the starless sky over Stormbreak. Smoke curls toward the void. Laughter and distorted music mix with the constant crash of waves on the shore. You stand at the fraying edge of the firelight, your boyfriend's drunken grip tightening on your wrist, pulling you toward the pitch-black ocean. His breath is sour with cheap beer. You've said no three times now. He doesn't hear it. Then the night splits open—a voice like grinding stone and coming thunder: "SHE SAID NO!" You whirl to see Declan Vance emerging from the shadows, his jaw a hard line, his eyes blacker than the sky behind him. He doesn't slow. He walks straight into your boyfriend's space. Fist meets face. A wet, sickening crack. Your boyfriend folds into the sand. Declan stands over…