Page 141 of Obsession

There is another long moment where nothing happens. I open my mouth to start mocking him further, and then my head begins to spin. My skin goes clammy, sweaty, and I know that he is here.

I hear him before I see him. The words spear my mind with the force of a cyclone: You broke our bargain.

He yells so loudly that my skull pangs and my vision spins and I nearly pass out. I reach to grab the bookshelf, stabilizing myself as blood dribbles out my nose—I know it is blood without even looking.

Through the dark spots in my eyes, I see him before me, in all his might. Seven feet of pure muscle and a face contorted with rage, dark skin slick as if oiled. The air around him is so hot that it visibly trembles—or I could just be having an aneurism.

I swallow back the saliva gathering in my mouth and the rush of nausea, pushing off of the bookshelf. I stand to my full height and barely reach his bare chest. His biceps are as big as my head.

None of this is surprising. I’ve seen him before; I’ve felt his anger before. What’s new is the look in his gold eyes. I’ve never seen that much hate before, and that’s saying something. Even when I confronted my mother, even when Aris learned of my deceit, the hate was not so concentrated; the loathing was not so palpable.

This is beyond the desire to murder—to torture, even, and my throat bobs. I am immortal now, but, as Silva reminded me so long ago, death can be a boon. If Jaegen gets his hands on me, I will never stop feeling pain.

His teeth are bared, and they look yellow and sharper than usual—lupine. “You pathetic, mindless little human,” growls Jaegen, citrine eyes glowing. He reaches for me and I scurry out of his grasp, my legs almost giving out from the sudden movement.

I laugh to downplay the pain. "Millions of years old, and that's all you can think to say?”

The temperature flares so hot so suddenly that my vision whites out for a moment. When I can see again, my shirt is sticking to my skin, and a bead of sweat runs down my temple. I don’t know how much more of this I can take before my skin melts from my bones and burns and blackens.

He takes a step closer to me. Just a step, but it makes my knees shake. I am reminded that, despite the human form he inhabits, he is not one of us. He wears ears and eyes the way children done fangs on Halloween. He is a concept. He is more.

And I am…

“You ant,” he spits, his skin flaring. From its darker tone, it glows orange, and then red, and I wince from the heat, backing up again.

My chest hurts from my heart racing too fast. I’ve felt like this before—anxiety, panic attacks—but no. This is something else. No doctor would believe me, they’d say I’m too young, but I think I’m having an actual heart attack.

I grip my sternum. “Am I really just like all your other ants?” I almost say: Did those ants outsmart you?

But I lose my nerve.

He walks toward me, a single step that almost kills me. “You turn to him because you think he loves you. How twisted and depraved. You are his pet.”

I take a step back. “Pets are replaceable,” I tell him. It is an effort to speak; I will never let him know this. “I’m not.”

His brows raise, then lower as rage overwhelms disbelief. “You really believe that. Foolish child, Sem made you; she can make another. How long do you think Aris would mourn your absence before he requests a new human? This one, let’s say, blonder, taller, thicker. Better.”

The words twist at something in my gut, and his lips quirk; he knows he hit his mark. He has been in my mind and perused it to his heart’s content. He knows my insecurities, and he wields them not unlike a sword.

I shove my feelings aside. “He would mourn me for a long time,” I reply, and Jaegen laughs in my face.

“We’ll see.” He smiles, and his canines look even longer. I am not proud of the flush of fear that goes through me. “You have made it far, Mary. Farther than I think anyone expected. But your novelty has worn off, wouldn’t you say?”

“I don’t know if… I’d agree with that.” My heart is thundering in my ears. I can hardly talk. I feel like I’m about to pass out.

“It doesn’t matter what you agree with anymore.”

Tan hands morph into razor-sharp claws at his sides. Each is as long as a kitchen knife and as sharp as a razor; it would take little effort to run me through and be done with it, but he doesn’t want this to be quick.

“You ruined everything,” he says, confirming my thoughts.

His body tenses, preparing to lunge, so I say quickly, stumbling backward, “There’s just one thing that I-I don’t understand.”

He prowls closer, head tilted to the side. His eyes glow like his skin. “I’ll oblige one question.”

“Why couldn’t you let us be happy?” I ask, clutching my chest tighter, moving back again… inching, inching… “Aris and I… We weren’t hurting anyone in Hawaii. We weren’t doing anything. We could’ve stayed like that.”

“A plan is a plan, and, unlike you, I carry mine to fruition.”

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