Page 85 of Shielded Heart

As Samantha stared at her blood-stained hands, her confusion became shock.

Not mine. It’s not mine.

Then whose?

Samantha looked up at Arcanthus. There was blood spattered on his chest, soaked into his robe, and glistening on his hand. Horror, somehow fiery and icy at once, spread outward from her chest. Her heart quickened.

“Arc? What happened? Are you hurt? Did they attack again?” The words tumbled out of her mouth in rapid succession, sped by her growing panic.

He lifted his hands, displaying his palms, and shook his head. “I’m fine, terran, and we weren’t attacked. Let’s head back to the room and clean you up.”

“If we weren’t, then what happened? Whose blood is this?”

Arcanthus sighed softly. “You remember the groalthuun who broke into your apartment?”

The same groalthuun who was stalking us at the Ventrillian Mall.

“Yes.”

“Well…he won’t be bothering us anymore.”

“What…what happened?”

He extended an arm, gesturing toward the bedroom. “Let’s head to the room and wash up, and I will tell you, all right?”

Samantha didn’t move. This situation felt familiar; how many times had James avoided her questions to hide what he’d done? How many times had he brushed aside her concerns so casually that it made her feel like she was insignificant—or, sometimes, like she was going insane?

Had she been a fool to let her guard down again? Had she misplaced her trust in Arcanthus?

“What happened, Arc?” Samantha asked quietly.

“Samantha…” He moved closer to her.

Sam retreated several steps.

He halted, hands falling to his sides. The hurt on his face almost made her resolve crumble.Almost.

“I had my people pick him up,” he finally said. “He was part of the Inner Reach Syndicate, a powerful crime organization. I needed to know why they came after me.”

A shiver coursed down her spine. “And you…you what… Tortured him?”

Please say no. Please say no. Even if you did it…please sayno.

His brows fell low, and his expression hardened. “I’m not a good person, Samantha, but I gave him a chance to talk. He refused. There was no torture involved. His death was quick.”

Samantha clutched the fabric of her loose shirt.

It was so easy for her to forget that Arc was a criminal, so easy to forget that he fought and killed without batting an eye. He’d offered her only sweet, coaxing words, gentle touches, and honeyed promises. Were it not for the attack at her apartment building, she might never have seen the darker side of him. She might never have known what he was truly capable of.

When would his kindness stop? When would he get angry enough to hurt Samantha? To strike her, to beat her?

To kill her?

Arcanthus closed the distance between them before she had a chance to escape. He pressed her back against the wall, looming over her, and she stiffened with another jolt of fear. She felt tiny, helpless, weak,trapped; there was nowhere to go, and she’d done it.

She’d triggered him.

He raised his hands and cupped her face. She expected his powerful fingers to dig into her skin, expected the crushing force of his grip to fracture her bones, but there was only…warmth. His hold was firm but inflicted no pain as he tilted her face toward his.

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