Page 71 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

My eyes trailed slowly down her body. Long sleeves, covering all of her, the thin blanket pushed down to her waist. She did good collecting what she needed for this cottage, she should be proud of herself.

No, I wouldn’t take her, not yet. It wasn’t the right time.

My eyes lifted to the window just above her bed, the dark woods several feet further. She liked the thrill of the demons watching her. She loved being hunted. She just hated to admit it, but everything about the life she had chosen pointed to it. Even when I hadn’t read through her journals, there were signs. She loved what I did, but her journals were wrought with denial, with self-hatred. I’d have to break her of that, and I would. I didn’t care how long it would take; she would know what it felt like to be shattered completely and put back together piece by painful piece.

“Why are you here?”

My eyes flicked to hers.

Her hazel eyes, more green now, were glaring right into mine. She wasn’t afraid to challenge me. Fuck, I loved that.

I lifted my chin, straightened my spine. “I had a bad day and I wanted to see my girl.” I could smell the fear dripping from her, the arousal. I could see the denial in her eyes, the anger. That shield had kept Cole from smelling any piece of her, and he hadn’t questioned it, not once. I wondered if the people on her secret street questioned it. Questioned who was keeping her scent a secret or if she had simply found something that suppressed it.

One day I would tell her. For now, no one else needed to smell what I could.

The fear turned her on. The thrill got her off. But denial? It was both of our biggest flaws.

“I’m not your girl,” she said icily, “and I don’t care who the fuck you are, get out of my gods-damned house.”

I smiled softly. “Naughty little girl,” I hummed. “I’d love to play another game tonight, Angel, but I wasn’t lying when I told you I had a bad day. I’ll leave the list on your table. Dream of me.”

Her lip curled. “I’d rather not have nightmares tonight.” She pulled her blanket up and scooted back into bed. After a moment of silence, she sighed. “What list?”

“My rules,” I said, taking a step towards the bed. “I told you I had rules.”

She pulled the blanket up to her chin, showing me nothing save for that beautiful head of hers. “Fuck your rules. I don’t need to follow them.”

“No, you have a choice. That’s just a bad one. Don’t worry, Angel, I won’t hold youtooaccountable until after you sign your name, but there will still be some consequences.”

She glared death at me. “I’m not signing anything.”

“You will,” I smiled, allowing a slight bit of arrogance to shine through. We both knew she would sign. We both knew it’s what she wanted, I just needed to push her a little more. Show her that what she felt was nothing to be ashamed of. Show her that I loved it, loved the way she reacted to my phantom touch.

Kyra rolled her eyes, but I could see the exhaustion in her them that prevented her from pushing the subject. “Did you kill him?” she asked instead, her voice holding a little less bite.

My smile fell, my magic burning under my skin at the mention of the male she had chosen to fuck. “Unfortunately, you chose one of the two men in this world I couldn’t kill.”

A flash of relief shone in her eyes, less than a second, but it was there, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “Good. Send the other one so I can fuck him too.”

She was pushing me. Pushing me at the worst possible time, but she didn’t know that. I couldn’t punish her tonight because I’d had a bad day.

Equal amounts pain and pleasure, that’s what she deserved. Control, someone to release her from her cage, but remind her who she belonged to. I couldn’t respect her the way she deserved, so I had to stay away.

I snarled under my breath, trying my best to controlmy own frustration at her reaction. “The rules are on the table. I keep a tally.”

She shook her head and flipped over on her side. “Everyone has bad days, you aren’t that special,” she muttered icily.

I stalked up to the edge of her bed and leaned over until I could hear the shivers of her skin. “I’ll teach you a million different ways how false that statement truly is.”

She had stopped breathing.

Good.

I turned away once more only for her to stop me at the door.

“Whose blood is that?”

I glanced back, her eyes still on the window. My own fell to my bloodied hands, dripping blood on the floor below. Curiosity. It was a step in the right direction. “I tortured a man tonight in my attempt to find more like him.”

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