Page 76 of Marked By Night

Sadie

Later that night, I wake in a puddle of sweat, gasping, and clawing at my chest as the monsters from my nightmare take their time leaving my sleep-addled brain.Deep breaths, Sadie. You’re having a panic attack,I remind myself. But it’s no use, I can still see Skylar’s face, so perfectly still, yet so angelic, even in death. His blonde hair splayed out like the perfect halo until the red tainted everything.

Gods, I miss him.So much so that my grief threatens to consume me. I can’t fucking do this. Tossing the covers off me, I stand, startling when I catch something moving in the confines of my bedroom.

Thankfully, my switchblade is within reach and I snatch it from the side table. On silent feet, I creep through the room, opening my senses to the night. Nothing seems off, but there must be something…

Gut-wrenching heartache and pain slam into me as a hand wraps around my throat and I’m slammed into the wall, but it’s nothing like what happened with Ben. He’s almost careful and the hold he has around my neck isn’t exactly uncomfortable. I can still breathe, so it’s likely he knows what he’s doing.

“Why the fuck are you in my room?” I ask, slipping my switchblade behind my back in case I need it. Elian is a colossal douche, but I don’t think he’d actually hurt me if it came down to it.

The soft moonlight pouring through my breezy curtains highlights his features and the fact that he’s completely shirtless. I’ll admit he looks better without one. His tattoos sprawl across his chest and neck, but it’s too dim to make the specific designs out.

Elian looks much more like himself in the dark, because this is where he thrives.

“I heard you whimpering in your sleep and came to check on you.” His voice is gruff and gravely from sleep.

Great, that’s fucking wonderful.

Those emerald eyes of his flash and flick away for a millisecond before returning to hold mine. “You know, you’re quite the conundrum, Mercedes Sarina Sinclair,” he says calculatingly. Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me that he knows my full name, but it also makes me wonder what else he knows that I’m not ready to share with them yet.

Especially him.

“I’ll take the bait,” I say breathily as his inked fingers readjust on my neck. I’m not exactly certain why I’m allowing him to put me in such a compromising position, but I can’t deny there’s something exhilarating about the push and pull between us. “How so?”

His eyes dip to my exposed cleavage like he can’t seem to help himself. “I’ll admit, you’ve surprised me. You’re beautiful and capable, but so naive, and so full of rage and hatred, yet you don’t have an outlet for which to let your troubles explode. Through all of that, there’s still a tint of light to you that you try to hide from the world. Your aura is radiant and the most brilliant I’ve ever seen.”

His words strike a chord within me and I glance away because I don’t like feeling so uncovered and raw underhisscrutiny.

“Look at me,” he commands and for some reason I do. “This world is going to tear you apart, eat you up, and then spit you out. Can’t you fucking see that?”

I can’t let him have all the power here, and surprisingly he doesn’t stop me as I rake my fingernails down his chest, relishing when his abs contract and he lets out a breath. He’ll likely have my marks there tomorrow and the thought makes me smirk.

His dick thumps against my leg and I’m forced to hold in my groan. I blame it on the dark giving me the courage to be forward with him and my sleep addled brain.

Yep, let’s go with that.

I ignore his question, opting to ask one of my own. “Why do you hate me so much, Elian?” A part of me is hoping for an honest answer, but I should know better by now.

He laughs, sending little thrills down my spine. “Because you, my dear, have ruined absolutely everything.” His hands leave my neck as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and leans in. He rests his temple against mine in an oddly intimate gesture.

Under his breath he adds, “But I’m coming to realize that maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.” The words are soft, so soft that if weren’t for the fact his lips are a hairsbreadth away, I’d be afraid my brain made the whole thing up.

He shifts so that his lips hover above mine, not quite touching, but close enough I can feel his breath feather across mine while he stares directly into my eyes. My pulse starts to thunder and my mouth turns dry, but there’s not a lot of time to think about it, because in the next instant he disappears into a black cloud of smoke.

That fucking bastard.

After his demanding presence fades away, I find myself wondering what the hell is wrong with me. I should’ve fucking stabbed him while I had the chance, but a part of me didn’t want to. A very small part, but one nonetheless.

With a heavy sigh, I toss my switchblade back onto the nightstand and cocoon myself under the covers once more, although something tells me I won’t be sleeping much more tonight.

31

Sadie

Several days pass without further incident, and it’s relatively quiet in the King household. Elian avoids me like the plague, and there’s been no sight of Savannah since the incident. They’ve assured me she won’t be around to bother me anymore, but I don’t believe it. The look on her face when Dante chose me was desperate and more than a little obsessive. It reminded me of Tyler.

People like that can’t let things go.

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