Page 2 of Claimed In Darkness

One second, I’m standing. The next, I’m slammed against the vault door, my wrists pinned above my head with a strength that is absolutely not fucking human. The smell of him crashes into me—smoke and spice, leather and steel, something rich and forbidden.

My breath is ragged, my body thrumming from the force of impact. I should be panicking. I should be thrashing, screaming. Instead, my blood rushes hot, my pulse thudding with something far too close to exhilaration.

His grip tightens. “Who sent you?”

“I work alone.”

The corner of his mouth curls. “A lie.”

“Believe what you want.”

His gaze drags over me, slow, assessing. He doesn’t need to touch me to make me feel like he already owns every inch of my body. His presence is enough—a storm pressed against my skin, a razor tracing the line of my throat.

He leans in, voice dropping into something lower, darker.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t put you on your knees and carve the truth out of you.”

My breath catches. Not from fear. From the heat of him, from the way his words slither into my mind, painting a thousand wicked possibilities.

I shouldn’t be reacting like this. This man is a predator, and I am prey.

I snarl. “Because you’d rather make a deal.”

That gets his attention.

A slow, deliberate pause. Then, his grip eases.

“Interesting,” he murmurs. “And what, exactly, do you think you have that I want?”

I don’t let myself hesitate.

“You need something stolen,” I say, watching his reaction. “And I’m the only one who can do it.”

Another beat of silence. Then, to my utter fucking shock, he laughs.

Low. Amused. Hungry.

“Oh, I’ve heard of you. You’re that little fox,” he says, his fingers ghosting down my arm, slow and deliberate. “You have no idea what you’ve just signed yourself up for.”

He steps back. Just like that.

I don’t move. I can’t.

My body is still pressed against the vault, my pulse hammering as he turns away, as if I’m no longer even worth his attention.

“Come,” he orders, not looking back. “We have much to discuss.”

Every instinct I have screams at me to run. To fight. To not follow this man.

But I do.

I want to know why the most feared Dark Elf in Orthani just let me live.

I want to know what the fuck I’ve just gotten myself into.

2

ZEPHIRAN

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