Page 35 of Dark Reign

“I can’t look away. Is that terrible?” I laughed with a whisper.

Julian, on the other hand, had no problem shifting his focus back to me.

“There’s something …differentabout you,” he breathed, and with what he said, my attention quickly returned to him.

There were a million ways I could have interpreted those words. I could have assumed he figured me out, knew I didn’t belong here, but my thoughts didn’t even veer in that direction.

My shoulders lifted and fell slightly with the small shrug, but I didn’t speak.

“I’m so used to beinghandledby people, never really being seen, you know?” He leaned away a few inches when I nodded. “Most only want to be near me for the status boost, the photo ops. It’s rare that I feel connected to someone in the outside world, someone outside my circle,” he shared.

I imagined it would be easy to feel that way, considering his position.

He breathed deep when his gaze synced with mine, hooking me just like before when a question fell from his lips.

“So … am I crazy for feeling that with you? A connection?”

My mouth opened and closed again. I knew it was impolite not to answer when he’d said so much, but I honestly didn’t knowwhatto say. He had that effect on me so many times tonight.

“Cori, he’s … you have to speak,”Liv said softly, reminding me others were listening. I’d all but forgotten about anyone not standing right on this terrace. She sounded just as hypnotized by this encounter as I did, but I wasn’t surprised. Of all the members of our team, she was the sap.

The romantic.

“I … No, you’re not crazy,” I stammered.

Julian gave a slow nod, an aimless one as his concentrated stare landed directly on me, drifting to my lips when I wet them.

He heated even more.

I felt it everywhere my body met his—where my arms draped around his neck, where his hands formed to my waist.

Time and space evaporated as he came closer. I knew I should stop him, should demand that he back away, but it was like an out-of-body experience. All traces of reason turned a blind eye to what my flesh craved.

Him.

A gentle breath passed over my lips as they parted, all too willing to submit to his. There was no contact yet, but I wanted there to be.

I’d gotten so lost in him, so absorbed I nearly missed it—the sound of a muffled cry creeping up the terrace. Julian was a breath away when I turned suddenly, halting what was almost a kiss as I listened harder, focusing my hazy vision on the couple we’d stolen a glimpse of only a moment ago. His face was still buried in his lover’s neck, but … there was blood.

So much of it, it had stained her expensive dress beyond recognition.

It took a moment to comprehend what I was witnessing, but reality came rushing in like a mighty wind.

“She’s human,” I gasped, suddenly aware of this twisted universe once again.

This woman—orgirlwho couldn’t have been much older than me—was being torn apart right before my eyes. A mouthful of veins, tissue, and tendons were torn from the side of her neck as the one I guessed to be her owner chomped and swallowed down hunks of her flesh like … like she was nothing.

Shock.

I was in shock.

I could only assume he owned her, could only guess this was punishment for something. Perhaps she’d disobeyed him tonight, or had forgotten her place, or simply said the wrong thing at the wrong time and embarrassed him in front of the wrong crowd. It didn’t have to be anything major or earthshattering … it just had to be major enough to him.

Ianites were characteristically impulsive creatures, so any of these ideas could have been true, but the cause for him devouring her didn’t matter. What mattered was that I’d lost sight of what this world was, had forgotten the hellish beasts that ruled it.

All because I let myself get carried away.

“We … we have to stop him,” I stammered, already thinking it’d be too late, but knowing I had to at least try.

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