Page 38 of Blood Moon Heat

Nero leaned forward, curling his fingers around my throat. “Do not ever lie to me again, Mina. Not ever.”

My mouth was bone dry and my pulse sped so fast, I felt weak-limbed and dizzy, but the cool touch of his skin on mine, his warm breath brushing my lips, had the need between my thighs heightening. What the hell was wrong with me?

He came closer still, so close, his lips brushed mine when he spoke. “You wanted to leave so badly, so now’s your chance.” He opened the door beside me, pushing it wide.

I shot a look outside. An old building loomed several yards away, and behind it was Oldwood Forest.

“I wouldn’t venture into the forest, if I were you. The demons in there won’t be as patient with you as I’ve been."

“You want me to…to run away?” I said as my fear and anticipation grew.

His gaze slid over mine, then dipped to my mouth, my throat, then back up. “That’s what you want, isn’t it, Mina?”

It had been, after what happened in the club, after making me feel so much only to lock me away again, like I was nothing. Yes, I’d decided to follow Lucinda’s lead and try, but I’d needed him, his reassurance, and he’d walked away like I was nothing. I’d doubted that I’d ever break through and reach him, so yes, I’d contemplated leaving, running.

But now? After what happened back in that office, the way Nero had reacted? He hadn’t been cold; he’d been furious. I had to hope that meant his emotions were beginning to unravel.

I stared back, locked in place by that ice-cold stare, struggling to form a reply. I couldn’t let him win. I wouldn’t be some meek, unwanted prisoner who eventually Nero grew bored of and forgot about. My resolve was restored. I wanted a mate. I wanted what my parents have. Maybe Nero was already too far gone, maybe anger was all I’d ever get from him, and he’d never fully regain his ability to feel or to love, but I had to try to coax it from him. I couldn’t just give up. I had to at least try.

“Yes,” I rasped, telling him the truth. “That’s what I wanted. You hurt me, and yes, that made me want to leave you, to never see you again.” He wanted honesty, then I’d give it to him. I’d wanted to hurt him or at least affect him the only way I knew how, to make him feel as unwanted as he’d made me feel after he’d touched me, after he’d made me feel more alive than I ever had in my entire life, after giving me hope before ripping it from me and shutting me away like I didn’t exist.

His jaw clenched and the muscle there pulsed several times, the ice in his stare melting away like a fire had just been lit inside him and now burned behind his eyes.

I tried to regulate my breathing, but it was impossible as I stared up into the growing inferno blazing down at me. He released me suddenly, and my blood drained from my body, turning me cold.

He sat back in his seat, not looking at me, looking out the window beside him. His chest rose sharply and released on a low growl.

I didn’t know what was happening, what I should do—

He turned to me again, and his molten stare scorched across my skin. My blood shot back up from my feet in a hot rush.

“All right, then, now’s your chance. Go. Run, little doll,” he quietly ordered.

My limbs were trembling and frozen, but I forced them to move, scrambling, stumbling from the back of the car. His dark, humorless laugh echoed from inside as I kicked off my shoes and did as he said—I ran.

Sprinting across the lot, across pitted and broken asphalt that dug into my bare feet, I frantically searched for a place to hide. The forest loomed up ahead, but Nero was right, I’d be a fool to go beyond the tree line. The demons in Oldwood were always on the lookout for breeders, and I wasn’t stupid enough to put myself in that position.

The only other option was the huge, dark building looming in front of me. It smelled like wet concrete, iron, and oil. Large sections of the walls were missing, and I bit back a cry as my bare feet came down on something sharp, rocks or glass, as I burst through the nearest opening.

He’d never let me get away, and I realized I didn’t want to leave him, not now anyway, but I would keep running because something happened when we played his game. It was twisted and wrong, but somehow it brought us closer together.

I didn’t slow when something else cut my foot—my pounding heart, the adrenaline throbbing through me, wouldn’t allow it. I ran past broken and stripped-down pieces of machinery, slipping on the damp oily ground more than once and barely keeping my feet. I sprinted for an open doorway up ahead but slipped on the oily floor again, and this time I went down hard.

Rough concrete scraped my ankle and thigh, snagging and tearing my dress. I barely felt it as I scrambled back to my feet and took off again. He was coming. He was coming for me.

Pinpricks of electricity danced across my skin. The thrill mixed with fear made my scalp tingle and my limbs weak. I gasped for air as my heart pounded out of my chest, and my adrenaline spiked higher and higher without reprieve.

A scraping sound came from somewhere behind me. I pumped my arms harder, faster, while trying to stay quiet, to control my panted breaths. There was another door ahead of me, the moon shining from beyond it. I ran through, then immediately pressed my back against the wall while I tried to control my desperate breaths.

Silence filled the space. There was a hole in the wall across from me, and part of the roof was gone as well, casting everything in a blue glow. Was he out there? Had he walked around the outside of the building instead?

Maybe I should go back the way I came, where it was darker. I was a sitting duck here—

A hand snapped around my throat from behind. I screamed and struggled against Nero’s hold. His arm had come around the doorframe; he’d been right behind me. Right there. I’d never lost him, not once.

He was in shadow as he rounded the doorway, and I squirmed and struggled against his hold, clawing at his wrist while he held me against the rough concrete wall.

And gods, the more I struggled, the damper my panties got. He looked down at me and his nostrils flared, scenting me. My face heated because I knew he could smell me. He could smell exactly how this game of cat and mouse we were playing affected me.

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