Page 18 of Consume Me
Then a voice breaks through the fog between us.
“Kendall!”
Her head snaps toward the sound. I follow her gaze and glimpse a masked male. Even from here, I scent him as a wolf. He’s a shifter, not fae. Certainly not a sentinel.
Still, my teeth pull back in a snarl at the open smile he gives her. The interested gleam in his eye visible, even through the mask.
“Shit,” she mutters.
“Is he a threat?” I growl.
“What?” She looks back at me—conflicted, torn, scared. “No. He’s… I have to go,” she whispers.
The thought of her leaving, of removing her hand from mine, is enough to rile my beast.
“Kendall,” the male calls again. He’s closer now, eager to reach her.
I move to put myself between them. Ready to stop him by force if necessary.
But she’s already pulling away.
Gone before I can stop her.
Gone before I can even breathe her name.
Chapter 6
Kendall
Ishove open the first door I see andslip through it, heart pounding. The music fades the second it shuts behind me, muffled like the walls are spelled to contain the noise. Alone, I force air into my lungs, panicked at the idea of the strange male confronting Klyn.
Ugh. Out of all the people I could have run into tonight, it had to be him. My brother-in-law’s best friend. Who would almost certainly run home and tell Tori he’d spotted me here.
The fae male looked ready to murder him on sight. The very hot, very attractive, very sexy face male.
If I stay here long enough, I’ll be next.
I force my feet to move, my breathing shallow, my heart pounding. Distance. I need distance between me and that fae male I left behind. Time to collect my thoughts. It doesn’t take me long to notice these halls are nothing like the ballroom I left behind.
Gone is the warm, perfumed air and laughing crowd. Back here, everything feels colder.Quieter. The silence isn’t comforting; it presses against my ears like a vice. Like the house is holding its breath, watching.
Moving quickly, I try to find the exit, but none of these passages look familiar. When I reach a fork in the halls, I glance around, trying to get my bearings. The corridor stretches in both directions, lit by sconces that glow blue-white like captured starlight. The walls are high, the ceiling vaulted, shadows pooling between carved columns. Doors line each side, all closed. No sound emanates from any of them.
I hesitate, considering the idea of hiding rather than continuing to search for a way out.
From their fancy holsters, the daggers hiss at me to heed our bargain.
The hour is now. Our enemy is upon us.
Far behind me, a door opens and shuts.
I pick a direction and move.
My heels echo against the marble, too loud, too fast. I should take them off, but I don’t want to stop. Besides, I need to feel the pain, the pinch, the blister forming on the side of my toe. It’s the only thing that feels real right now.
What the hell just happened?
I danced with the man I was sent here to kill. The man whoshouldhave killed me.
