Page 1 of Theirs to Rule

Chapter 1

Camille

The darkness clung to me, heavy and suffocating. My head throbbed like I’d partied way too hard the night before, and when I reached up to touch my temple, the sharp pain made me wince. When I pulled my hand back, I stared at the red smeared across my fingers.

Blood.

A low groan escaped my lips as my surroundings started to come into focus. My heart stumbled, then raced, pounding like a drum in my chest.

No way.

This couldn’t be real.

But it was.

I was strapped into the driver’s seat of Kage’s Bugatti, and the front driver’s side of the car wasn’t touching solid ground. My stomach lurched as the car teetered, swaying just enough to send terror clawing up my throat. Below was a sheer drop.

Memories hit me in jagged flashes. Kage and I had been cruising the mountain roads near Crimsonvale University. I was showing off—because obviously, that’s what you do when you’rebehind the wheel of a Bugatti. We’d pulled over and taken in the view, and I’d seriously been thinking about giving Kage a hummer. But then Officer Davis rolled up in his patrol car and flipped my whole world upside down. He said Officer Conroy was the third man who attacked me, but something about his vibe was just... off.

And then I saw the scratches on his neck.

The same ones I’d left on my masked attacker.

Davis had been lying. He was working with Silas all along. The moment he realized I knew, everything exploded. Kage moved fast, stepping in to protect me, but Davis still shot him. The sound of the gunshot shattered the night—and something inside me along with it. That sound still echoed in my ears, like it was imprinted on my soul. But Kage didn’t go down. He dragged himself into the car, and after leaping behind the wheel, I did the only thing I could think of—I got us out of there.

Davis chased us in his patrol car like a psycho, ramming us every chance he got. My brain was in full survival mode, screaminggo, go, go!The overlook that Dante had taken me to was supposed to be our way out, our last chance to lose him. I remember Kage shouting, “Now!” as I made the turn. And I almost had it. Almost. Then this random log appeared out of nowhere, and the car skidded. I lost control.

Davis wasn’t so lucky. His car flew off the cliff, but somehow, I managed to stop the Bugatti just in time. And now here we were, the car teetering on the edge, me barely holding it together.

I tore my gaze away from the drop, turning to Kage. He was slumped in the passenger seat, blood soaking his shirt. His face was too pale, too still. My stomach twisted painfully.

“Kage,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. Saying his name louder felt like tempting fate. When he didn’t respond, panic coiled tight in my chest. “Kage, please. Can you hear me?”

No answer. My vision blurred with tears as the weight of everything crushed down on me. Kage, the boy I had fallen so hard for that it scared me, couldn’t die.

I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t eventhinkabout losing him.

Stay calm. Stay. Calm.

I forced myself to focus. Slowly, I unbuckled my seatbelt, the sound too loud in the tense silence. Sweat slicked my palms as I shifted, leaning toward the center console to keep my weight away from the cliff’s edge. The car creaked ominously, but it held. For now.

I reached for him, my fingers trembling as they hovered over his neck. His pulse was weak but there. Relief hit me hard enough to make me dizzy. “Oh my God. Thank you.”

I leaned closer, brushing my fingers against his shoulder. “Kage, come on. You have to wake up.”

No response. I shook his shoulder gently. He groaned, his body jerking. The car swayed violently, and I froze, my breath catching.

The car stilled, but my heart didn’t.

“Kage, don’t move,” I said quickly. “We’re on the edge of a cliff.”

His eyes fluttered open, and for a second, all I felt was relief. Then his gaze sharpened, and panic flashed across his face. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. Just a bump on the head,” I lied. My head was killing me, but it didn’t matter.

He looked around, taking in the situation. “You need to get out. Open my door and jump.”

“No way,” I said shakily, grabbing his hand. “If I move, this thing’s going over, and I’m not leaving you.”

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