Page 130 of Dance of Ruin

The air is colder here. Drier.

I stop and slowly spin in a circle, vainly trying to remember which way I came, fear roaring through my system.

Suddenly, my spine snaps straight and my skin prickles.

Footsteps.

I whirl in their direction, tuning my ears before panic suddenly bursts through me.

No, not footsteps.

Someonerunning.

Fast. Coming closer.

Oh, God.

I start to run again, twisting left, right, down another hall, then another left?—

I slam against a wall.

Dead end.

I whirl around to run in the other direction?—

Andscreamwhen a shadow lunges from the dark.

A body slams into me, hard, ripping off my mask and whipping me around, slamming me face-first into the wall, pressing hard against my back.

A hand wraps around my throat, sending adrenaline exploding like napalm through my body.

“What thefuckare you doing here?” a voice growls.

My breath stutters.

I freeze.

It’s Nico.

His hand is still on my throat, not squeezing, justholding. Like he doesn’t trust me not to disappear, or trust himself to let me go.

“What the fuck are you doing here,” he growls again, his voice even more edged and deeper.

“I—” My voice breaks. “I saw?—”

“Everything?” he finishes for me.

I nod.

His hard body clenches with rage behind me.

Withhunger.

And then—I feel it.

The sharp press of him, thick and growing, hardening against the curve of my ass through his slacks.

My breath stutters, and my traitor body sparks to life.

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