Page 12 of Buried Souls
Scrambling back until my back hits the headboard, my system goes on high alert as the giant of a man pulls forth a chairand sits down on it, his stare locked on me, burning me with its intensity. Tangles of rope lie strewn around the floor, causing my mind to race with terrifying implications.
Rain falls down in long silver threads outside, lashing the window like desperate fingers. Thunder rumbles low through the forest, a warning too late for me.
I didn’t mean to trespass.
I had no choice.
The storm had driven me. The darkening woods. The sense of being hunted and watched beneath the trees.
Time passes, neither of us uttering a single word. The air is charged with tension so palpable, that it feels as if it’s pressing down on my already strained lungs, suffocating me.
“What are you going to do to me?” I mutter, finally mustering up the courage as curiosity slowly wins over, overruling the acute fear that has slithered its way into my very bones ever since being locked in with this domineering male hours ago.
His eyes catch mine.
They’re not warm.
But they’re beautiful.
Sharp as a knife’s edge. Dark, like the deepest well. They seem to see through me, to places inside myself that I have never dared to look.
“You’ll find out, soon enough.” Niko smirks, infuriating me once more when he leans back in his chair and spreading his muscular legs, adjusts himself. “What’s your name? How did you get here?” he says, voice low and coaxing.
My spine stiffens, a flicker of defiance threading through with the unease. The urge to refuse him is strong, but I ignore it, frowning instead in annoyance with the way he’s speaking to me,as if I’m some half-witted female, while doing my best to ignore the way he’s sitting.
“My name isElena. Elena Fremont.”
A faint smile tugs at his mouth. He tastes my name in silence, like something rich and forbidden on his tongue. “How very fitting.” His tongue sweeps over his front teeth as he inspects me from across the room. “Answer my question.”
“I was running through the woods and happened to stumble upon your house.”
He arches a thick brow, incredulous. “And why, please tell, were you running through the woods in the middle of the night?”
“It wasn’t nighttime, it was day, and I wasn’t doing it because I am some crazy person. My cab driver had left me on the road, and I was afraid that wolves would come and eat me, so I—”
“So you thought it would be a smart choice to go for a stroll through the trees.” He clicks his tongue. “All alone.”
“Well, yes.” I swallow, feeling incredibly stupid now that he’s pointed out the nonsensical side to my logic. “I do realize it sounds silly, but at the time it seemed like a wise decision.”
A beat passes, then two, before he finally says on a low note, “There are much scarier things than wolves hunting in the woods. You should have stayed in the car.” There’s a glint in Niko’s eye, as if hiding a secret that I have yet to discover.
I don’t like it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he declares, all humor gone.
I swallow the large lump clogging my throat, my back pressing even further against the headboard. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I thought the house was abandoned.” I’m a historian, for Christ’s sake. I do not run away from facts, however disturbing they might be.
His lips curl into something between a smile and a sneer.
Between a threat and a challenge.
“Liar.”
Anger simmers in me.
I’m a grown woman. I will not be spoken to as if I’m some petulant child.
Jumping to my feet, I march to the open door but before I can make my escape, it bangs shut before me. As if a strong gust of wind—or something else, something unnatural—pushed it to close. I stand, paralyzed, and eyes glued to the knob, as the lock turns with a soft, deliberate sound.
