Page 38 of Primal

“I’m sorry,” I say honestly because I really didn’t mean to waste their time. I really thought they could help me get my pendant back, but Zyran always has a way of turning everything on its head.

They roll their eyes and mumble insults under their breath as they walk to their car without saying another word to me and speed off. Whatever they said wasn’t quiet enough, though, because Zyran’s fingers still on my back.

Shit. He’s going to make them pay for that later. I just know it.

Yolanda’s shoulders slump with defeat as she sighs and turns to walk back to her car. Before she gets in, she looks at me again and says loud enough for Zyran to hear, “If I wake up and see your face on the news tomorrow morning, I’m going to the police. And I’ll personally hunt that psycho down.”

I swallow the bile that rises up my throat. The thought of Yolanda searching for my killer makes me uneasy. I know Zyran wouldn’t do anything to hurt me…

Well, he wouldn’t killme.

Slowly, I close both of the doors and turn to face my stalker. He smiles devilishly, and I hate myself for wanting to do nothing else but shove him against the wall and kiss those plump lips of his.

“When do we start?” I ask him through gritted teeth.

“Now.”

CHAPTER 30

KIARA

I wring my hands nervously as each of my warring emotions runs through me.

Desire. Anger. Stress. Sadness. I know Zyran can read me like a book; his knowing grin tells me as much.

“If you keep standing there staring at me, I’ll have no choice but to fuck you right here,” he warns.

Eyes wide, I throw open the doors again and sprint down the porch steps. Zyran gives me all of five seconds before he’s running after me.

His footsteps are heavy and loud as they pound the pavement behind me. When I look over my shoulder to see he’s just an arm’s length away, I let out a shocked gasp and push myself to run faster.

He’s not even giving me a chance.

“That’s not fair!” I yell behind me. A part of me hopes my neighbors don’t pay us any mind, for their sake.

When we reach the end of the street, I make a sharp right toward the abandoned neighborhood across the clearing. The closer we get, the taller the grass is, until the blades reach my knees. It’s getting harder to run, but I will myself to keep going. I refuse to lose this game.

I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly turned on right now. I remember the feeling of fear mixed with arousal when Zyran chased me through the forest three months ago. It was the strangest mixture of emotions that I’d secretly hoped to experience again one day, and it’s finally happening.

It’s that reason alone that makes me stop in my tracks. I do need to catch my breath, but I want to see what Zyran will do next.

Almost immediately, his body comes barreling into mine as he grabs me around the waist and hoists me over his shoulder.

“Put me down, you psycho!” I yell, beating on his back with my fists.

Jesus, this is so hot.

Zyran just laughs and starts running again until we’ve reached the empty neighborhood. He knows as well as I do how much I’m enjoying this right now.

I barely have a chance to look around before he’s kicking a door in and running up the stairs to the first bedroom he sees.

The floor—which I presume is rotting—groans dangerously as he drops me down.

I land on my butt with an irritated huff.

“You lost, butterfly,” he says as he towers over me, taking his hoodie and shirt off, ripping the latter in half. Somehow, this is the first time I’m noticing he has tattoos. I don’t know how, because he’s covered in them. I guess I’ve spent so much time looking at his face that I hadn’t noticed anything else about his appearance.

He doesn’t remove his ski mask; my mouth begins to water. “You lied.”

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