Chapter 4: The Arrest

Sleet slashed through Central Park like icy claws, turning the winding paths near the Bow Bridge into treacherous mirrors of frozen despair. The storm had driven away all but the most reckless souls, leaving the night to howl alone. Sophia Voss moved through it with predatory grace—coat collar turned high against the wind’s bite, auburn hair lashing wildly like flames in a gale, Shadow’s carrier slung over her shoulder with effortless poise, as if she were strolling to a forbidden tryst rather than courting capture.

From Shadow’s vantage in the carrier, the world was a blur of scent and vibration—the metallic tang of sleet mingling with Sophia’s jasmine warmth, the distant rumble of thunder that wasn’t thunder at all, but something older, hungrier, stirring in the shadows. He pressed his nose to the mesh, yellow eyes piercing the dark, sensing the two figures approaching before they spoke. Humans—clumsy, armored in blue, reeking of fear and authority. Shadow’s fur bristled; he knew this scent. Trouble. But Sophia’s pulse remained steady through the strap—calm, expectant, laced with a thrill that made his own heart quicken.

Officers Ramirez and Chen closed in, flashlights carving harsh white wounds through the night. Their boots crunched ice, breath pluming and freezing mid-air.

“Ma’am? NYPD. Sophia Voss?”

She halted beneath a lamppost, sleet hissing against the bulb like furious whispers. Emerald eyes caught the light and hurled it back—fierce, inviting. No fear. Only a sultry anticipation hung in the air like perfume.

“Took you long enough,” she purred, voice slicing through the wind, rich and resonant. “I was starting to think Detective Fire had cold feet.”

Ramirez’s grip tightened on his flashlight, knuckles whitening. “You’re ... cooperating?”

Sophia stepped closer—too close—into their personal space, her body heat cutting through the cold like a promise. She slowly extended her wrists, palms up, coat sleeves slipping back to reveal pale skin already etched with faint red lines, as if invisible hands had marked her earlier. “Darling,” she murmured, eyes locking on Ramirez’s with a gaze that burned, “I’ve been expecting you. Let’s not keep her waiting—she strikes me as the impatient type.”

Chen’s fingers fumbled the cuffs—metal clinking nervously as his hands brushed her skin. The touch sent a shiver through him, unbidden, electric. Shadow growled low from the carrier, sensing the man’s pulse spike—not from fear alone.

The cuffs snapped shut—cold steel biting deep, drawing a faint gasp from Sophia that sounded almost like pleasure.

She leaned in toward Ramirez, body shifting fluidly—pressing just enough that her coat brushed his uniform. “Kinky,” she whispered, lips curving close to his ear. “Though I expected something ... softer from her.”