Page 77 of The Oath We Give

Despite the years that had gone by, we’re still held hostage by the same captivating hunger for rebellion, our souls intoxicated for the thrill of what happens at nightfall.

We are creatures of the night always, bleeding chaos and untamable.

No matter where we went or how far apart we drifted, we would remain forever at the mercy of the darkness.

“What game?” Rook asks.

“Hide-and-seek.” Alistair’s mouth curls into a sinister smirk. “At Hollow Heights University.”

My blood runs hot through my veins at the thought of seeking her out, proving that no matter how good of a fight she puts up, she can’t escape that connection between us.

I can still feel her nails clawing into my shoulders, her trembling beneath my touch in the elevator. She wanted to melt and bend beneath me, but her mind refused.

Getting stuck in that elevator with her was only further confirmation of something I already knew in the marrow of my bones. A thought I’d tamped down and tried to deny since the moment I walked out of her hospital room two years ago.

I want Coraline Whittaker.

That ominous and painful thing inside of her that scratches and bites? The one that scares her? I want it to leave marks on me. It screams for me when she lets me in close, begging me to run my tongue along every square inch of her taut skin.

Her futile attempts to put distance between us only feed my hunger. Coraline wants me to fear her, as if that lovely, dark thing inside of her is something to run from. She’s the only one who can’t see that it’s a siren’s call.

It’s not her looks that pull men to the depths of her sea, drowning themselves for a chance to touch her.

It’s the aura of mystery that shrouds around her every move. That untouchable, intangible force buried in her bones.

She can fight it if she likes. It won’t change anything.

Whatever she dishes out, I’ll swallow whole.

“We need masks.”

Book made for [email protected]

EIGHTEEN

ZUGZWANG

SILAS

The air smells like rain,touched with a buzz that lets you know lightning is coming soon.

“You think she’ll show?”

I drag my tongue across my bottom lip as headlights appear from between the trees. Coraline’s car hesitantly pulls through the already opened ironclad gates that lead to Hollow Heights University.

Alistair snatches the cigarette between my fingers, taking a long drag before expelling several smoke rings that drift into the darkness.

“Yeah.”

My black long-sleeve shirt stretches across my back as I cross my arms, leaning back onto my car.

I’m pleasantly surprised, considering when I texted her with the proposition of tonight’s game, she left me on read.

Stubborn girl.

She carefully pulls into one of the many open spots in the student lot, turning her car off and opening her door.

My teeth sink into my bottom lip when she steps out, the wind catching her hair immediately. It blows back from her head in a curtain of brown tendrils, and she tucks my favorite two pieces behind her ears.

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