Page 30 of Shadow Bound

I shove my fingers through my hair, pushing it off my forehead. “I’m not running,” I reassure him. “I promise, I just need to get out of this room, or Iwillkill him.”And then you.

“Don’t go far,” he reluctantly says after a beat.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” I offer over my shoulder because… well, I fucking can.

* * *

A half an hour later,Ransom emerges from the hotel room, wearing nothing but a low-slung pair of faded jeans and his leather combat boots with the laces undone. I can see from where I sit on the roof on the other end of the motel, that his hair is damp from a shower. His chest is completely bare, the small abrasions from the avalanche that were there earlier have healed. He got lucky, making it behind that boulder. If he hadn’t, he would have ended up like Sawyer, or worse. Dead.

My blood hums with anger at the thought that Nessa almost killed them today. If I hadn’t been lurking around, they both would have suffocated under the snow. I can’t decide if the anger I feel is because without Ransom’s help finding the rogue I would be back to square one, or if in whatever battered and bruised pieces remain of my soul, I genuinely care if something happens to Ransom.

I decide this whole ‘trying to be a better person’bullshit must be getting to me and messing with my head.

His eyes sweep the surrounding area, looking for me. I’d paced in front of the door for a solid minute before deciding I was too close still. Back in my own room, I scrubbed my hands and arms until all the dried blood had washed down the drain. With the scent of blood almost gone, I relaxed some. While in there, I also removed Ransom’s shirt and pulled on one of my own. Black and hooded,of course. I’m a creature of the night but also a creature of habit. Feeling more like myself and the raging monster in my head as calm as it’s going to get, I scaled a small wall before climbing up onto the roof.

I know the second his eyes finally land on me, the tingling sensation that runs across my scalp and down my spine being the indicator. I lift my head from where I’ve been resting it on my bent knees and meet his warm blue gaze.

While he looks just like his twin, with a strong jawline and a straight nose, they have different energies about them. From what I’ve seen of Ranger Weylyn from when I was doing recon on the family, he’s more reserved and quiet. He prefers to sit back and watch everyone around him. Ransom hides the dark energy I’ve seen hints of behind his easy smile and laid-back attitude. I think it’s the dark side of him—the hidden killer—that I’m drawn to.

And I know why I am. While he tries his best to hide that part of him, keeping it at bay, I’ve let mine run rampant. The dark shadows of my soul eclipsed all the light in me until there was nothing but a sliver left. That sliver is what allowed me to save them today instead of going after Nessa.

Stalking across the parking lot, he comes to stand right below where I’m sitting. “You’re like a cat, you know that? Always climbing up in trees and shit.”

I cast him a look. “I like to be above everyone else. No one can sneak up on me from up here and I can see someone coming.”

His dark brows pinch. “Do you ever just…relax? You’re always on guard.”

“If I relaxed, I would have been killed, Ransom. My childhood was not like yours. I didn’t spend my summers swimming in a lake with my mom bringing me fresh-squeezed lemonade with a cute little umbrella in it. While you were learning how to play baseball, I was learning how to slice a man to inflict the most pain. While you were playing hide-and-seek with your siblings, I was seeing how long I could hold my breath while my head was held under ice-cold water. At the age of five, you lost your first tooth and the Tooth Fairy came, leaving you a dollar while you slept soundly. When I was five, I killed my first person. He was innocent, just a poor bastard that got caught in the wrong place, but I didn’t care—couldn’t care. I ran my blade along his throat and watched as the blood seeped out. And later when I cried over what I’d done, I was slapped across the face and thrown into a cold cell for a week. I didn’t have a family—or a whole pack—watching my back. I had to look out for me. So yes, Ransom, I’m always on guard because if I hadn’t learned that lesson in the past, I would be dead.”

“What about your brother? Didn’t he look out for you?” There’s a pained expression on his face I don’t think he meant to show. Not everyone is as proficient in hiding their feelings as I am.

That pit in my stomach when I think of Alexandre grows. Guilt starts to seep from my pores, but I force the emotion down. “Alexandre would have killed me in my sleep without batting an eye if Sterling asked him to. Just like I would have done the same to him.” I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but I would have done it. I stand from the roof and walk to the edge, the half wall I climbed up sits under me. “You hunt rogues because you want to—you hunt and kill because you have the luxury of it being an option. I don’t. Everything about me—down to my DNA—is deadly. The genes they took from both species were put together in hopes of creating the perfect killer. They succeeded. I’m half fae and half vampire.” This is the first time I’m admitting what I really am to him. “Meaning my senses are like no other. I can hear the ants in the dirt below your feet. I can hear the children screaming on the sledding hill five miles away. I can hear every ounce of blood move through your veins. I can smell the deer that’s in the woods not far from here. I can smell the sweet smell of ice cream from the ice cream truck that went past here an hour ago. And I can smell the lingering scent of Sawyer’s blood on your skin even though you scrubbed your body with soap and dowsed yourself in cologne.” I know without having to ask he did it to help me so I wouldn’t go mad with bloodlust again. Again, he was generous without asking for anything in return. “A normal vampire is strong and fast—adding the fae DNA made me stronger and faster. My victims couldn’t outrun me, and my shadow walking ability made it so they had no idea I was coming. They never stood a chance against me.”

With a nimble jump, I drop to the wall below me, landing silently like I’ve been trained to do.

He ponders my words for a minute, acting as if he’s really putting them into thought. I’m thinking I really got to him, made him understand what I am. Until a slow smile spreads across his face and I know I’m wrong. “Fae and vampire huh? You’re telling me you’re the blood-sucking version of Tinkerbell?”

I frown at him. “I have no idea who that is.”

He lets out an exasperated sigh. “We really need to get you a Netflix account or something. This” —he waves a hand between us— “is never going to work if you don’t understand my movie references.”

I don’t jump down from the wall yet, preferring to stay up here where I have some distance and a slight advantage over him. I’m still weak as hell right now, any advantage I can get I’m going to take. “There is no” —I point a finger between us like he did— “this.”

“Really? I think this is the beginning of a spectacular friendship.” I bite back a groan of irritation. He’s looking for a reaction out of me and I’m not about to give it to him.

Ransom shifts forward, his hands in his front pockets, making the already low jeans ride lower. I find myself drawn to the cut lines that disappear below the denim. I force my eyes away and slowly trail them up his muscular body until I’m looking at eyes that look like the Caribbean. “You lied to me,” Ransom says slowly.

I suck my teeth, quirking a brow. “Which time?”

“When you told me you’d always save yourself—that you were always going to serve your best interest.” He shuffles to a stop, standing directly beneath me. “What happened today, Beau? Why’d you save me when you could just as easily have gone after the rogue and whoever that woman was who was with him.”He’d seen her up there?“She’s your target, right? She’s who you want to ask the rogue questions about? She wasrightthere… why did you save me instead?” His hand reaches forward, and he fingers the ties of my boots.

When I don’t answer, he looks up at me expectantly. Finally, I grit out, “I don’t know.”

His lips twitch at the corners before the hand that’d been playing with the laces wraps around my ankles. With a force I’m not prepared for, he yanks me forward off the wall. A gasp escapes my lips. I try to steady myself, but the starvation I’m experiencing is already making my head spin. My body falls forward before I meet the ground, big warm arms grab me. When my head clears and I can focus again, I find myselfcradledagainst Ransom’s chest.

Instantly, I start thrashing to get away, but his brute strength is no match for me right now. His arms lock tighter around me, holding me closer to his bare chest.He’s so warm.Ransom dips his head and when he runs his nose along my temple, I freeze.What the fuck?“You’re lying again,” he murmurs. He’s so close, I feel his breath move my hair when he talks. “As much as you try to tell me differently, you’re not the big bad monster you think you are. If you were, you wouldn’t have left Sterling’s side. You would have put a bullet in Pruitt’s head when you had the chance. You would have hunted down my twin and Winslow for getting your brother killed. And you would have left me in the snow.” Shivers break out across my skin from his close proximity. “Despite the fact they did everything in their power to make you into a soulless killer, there’s a part of you that wants to do good. I can see it in your eyes. You’ve done bad things, Isabeau, but you’re not a bad person.”

I feel exposed, like I’m standing naked in the middle of a stage with a giant spotlight on me while thousands of people look on. But it’s not thousands, it’s just one person. Ransom. And he’s making me feel barer than I ever have in my life.

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