Page 92 of Seeking Shadows

"To tease." His gaze locks onto my lips, his eyes darkening. "To test my limits."

My body heats under his touch, but I try to hold my ground. "I was just asking for a recommendation, Zane."

His fingers trace my jaw, sliding down my neck with slow, deliberate pressure, sending a shiver down my spine that I can’t control. His eyes lock onto mine, dark and simmering with something I can’t quite place, but it makes the air between us feel suffocating.

"Then why the hell were you laughing like that at him?" His voice is low, rough, cutting through the tension with a sharp edge. "You don’t laugh like that at just anyone. You only laugh like that at people youlike."

I freeze, breath catching in my throat. But before I can respond, his hand grips my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. His stare is fierce, demanding—every ounce of him radiates possessiveness.

“And what the hell is this?” He gestures toward my phone with a flick of his wrist, his voice low and dangerous. “A selfie? With him? You were way too close, Mia. Too fucking close.”

His words feel like a slap, sharp and unexpected, and I can see the frustration in his eyes, burning into me.

“You think you can just—laugh and get all comfortable with someone else and then what? Come back to me like nothing happened? No.” His voice drops, dangerously quiet, as he leans in, lips brushing my ear. “You don’t get to act like that with him. I don’t share.”

The raw intensity of his words wraps around me like a tightening vice, the air thick with a mix of desire and something darker. Something that makes my pulse race.

“Well, I was making a new friend," I say with a mischievous smile. “He was going to give me lots of waffles.”

“I can give you as many waffles as you want. You don’t need that fucking cunt.”

I open my mouth to respond, but that's when I see it—he’s…

I smile defiantly. "Are you jealous?"

Silence.

His eyes were dark, jaw clenched, breath shallow—and fuck, he was beautiful when he was like this. I saw it in every line of his body. The jealousy. The want. The way he hated that someone else had my attention, even for a second.

God, it turned me on.

He stopped only when my back hit the wall, and then finally looked at me. Really looked.

“You’re mad,” I said, voice soft, almost amused.

He didn’t answer right away, just stared at me like he wanted to say ten things at once and couldn’t decide which one would hurt less.

I stepped toward him. One step. Two. Until we were chest to chest, and his breath hitched.

“You didn’t like me talking to him.”

Zane looked away.

I tilted his chin back toward me with two fingers. “Say it.”

His voice was barely a whisper, but the words sliced through the air with a cold, razor-sharp edge.

“Yeah,” Zane growled, his breath shaky, but the anger was clear beneath the tremor, something darker stirring beneath his usually calm surface. “I got fucking jealous.”

I pulled back, my heart racing at the shift in him. His eyes had darkened, not with lust, but with something far more dangerous, primal. His jaw was clenched, fists trembling at his sides as though he was barely holding back something violent, something that could tear the world apart.

"You have no idea what the thought of another man touching you—looking at you—does to me," he hissed, voice low and dangerous, a growl that seemed to vibrate in his chest. “I’d burn everything in my path, destroy anyone who dares come near you,” he growled, his grip tightening on my chin as his eyes burned with intensity. “You’re mine. Don’t you ever forget that.”

I smiled, slow and warm, and cupped him through his jeans. He was already hard.

“Mmm. That’s what I thought.” My thumb traced lazy circles against him, feeling the way his breath caught. “You were so possessive back there. Dragging me away like that. God, it was hot.”

His lips parted. He looked dazed. Uncertain.

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