Page 4 of Cast in Shadow
“Why not?” I glared at him, hating my traitorous pulse for fluttering when he looked at me like that.
“Tell me why you were following that woman first.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “She’s been summoning dark magic.”
“I’m aware,” he said, keeping his voice low in a way that heated every inch of me.
“Do you know how much damage a witch can do if she’s caught in the throes of darkness?” She could become unpredictable. Destructive. Deadly to anyone in her path.
“I do.”
Right. Of course he did. Because he’d been around long enough to see it all.
“Then why would you interfere?” I hissed.
Emerson let out a heavy breath and crossed his arms over his broad chest, the soft fabric of his dark gray t-shirt straining against his biceps. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here. Safe.”
Oh, that was so far from the truth that I had to swallow down the bark of laughter that threatened to escape. He could hurt me in so many ways, good and bad, but nothing compared to his betrayal. That had nearly killed me.
“What was that?” He stepped forward, his eyes like a hawk’s as he released just a little of his magical hold on me. “What are you thinking right now?” Another step.
“Stop. Right there.” Dread and excitement were doing a little dance in my belly. “If you come any closer, I swear to all the gods, Emerson…”
He didn’t listen. He took another step, then another, moving like a predator until his hips brushed my knees. He smelled just like he used to, like trouble and heartbreak wrapped up in asmoky musk that made me yearn for a past that was as dead as I was supposed to be.
Goddammit.
My pulse tripped when he slid my knees apart and leaned in close, his breath ghosting over the shell of my ear. Seconds ticked by before his whispered words cut like an accusation. “You left me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t do this. Not with him.
He gripped my chin hard. “Look at me, Senna.”
I did as he said, pinning him with a glare that even a being born in shadow should have been able to read. My blood heated. My heart beat a deafening pulse in my ears. “Let. Me. Go.”
His lips crashed against mine in the next instant, his fingertips digging into my jaw, holding me captive to his kiss. My instincts told me to fight him off—demanded a fight—but my body refused to listen.
It wasn’t his magic or some supernatural power that was holding me in place any longer. It was just him. Emerson Bradach.
I never had a chance when it came to him.
My hands groped blindly at his chest, fisting and yanking at his shirt as I tried to pull him closer.
He was the most dangerous kind of addictive.
His teeth nipped at my bottom lip before he pulled back, leaving me leaning into the inch of empty space between us. “Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
The words ripped me back to reality. I wassupposedto be dead, at least to him. Which dragged me right back to the most pressing question of all: how the hell did he find me?
I shoved him, hard, but the step he took back was entirely his own choice. I hadn’t put any of my magic behind that shove.
“Why did you sabotage my mission?” I asked. He could say it didn’t matter, but it did. There had to be a reason he was there.
His eyes narrowed. “Who ordered the mission?”
A question for a question. I hated this game, but I could play it just as well as he could. Drawing in a breath that did precisely nothing to steady me, I hopped off the counter and pulled myself up to my full height. “Do you really expect me to believe you don’t already know?”
He’d found me, despite the fortune I’d put into staying hidden. It wasn’t like he’d accidentally stumbled into my path on some random Wednesday. No, he’d clearly been hunting me, but if he didn’t know who I worked for, I wouldn’t be the one to tell him.
