Page 31 of Bound In Crimson

I freeze in the hallway to Atlas’s office when the sound of shouting reaches me. Frowning, I step closer once, twice, then once more until I’m standing outside the closed door. I can only make out every few words; it’s as if he’s walking—pacing more likely—closer to the door, but turning and marching away midway through his sentence.

“… By next week… what needs to be done… come down there myself and… I don’t care how… Dante is not—”

Suddenly, I’m being pulled away from the door. A hand clamps over my mouth before I can scream, and when Kade’s cologne wafts under my nose, I pull his hand away and whirl on him.

“What the fuck?” I hiss.

“Listening in on conversations you’re not meant to be a part of is rude,” he says, shaking his head at me as if I’m a child in need of scolding.

“Maybe if you weren’t keeping me in the dark about, you know,everything, I wouldn’t have to stoop to eavesdropping.” I cross my arms over my chest and scowl at him. “Besides, I didn’t mean to overhear anything. I was just looking for something to do to kill the time before the others get home for dinner.”

Kade arches a brow at me. “I could give you several far more entertaining ideas than listening to Atlas blast someone.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” I remark dryly.

My head whips back toward the office door when Atlas shouts something, and a second later, the sound of shattering glass comes from behind the door.

“Ah, fuck,” Kade mutters, stepping around me and knocking on the door before opening it slowly. “What’s up, brother?”

Before he can say anything, I push past Kade and walk into the room.

Atlas stares at me for a moment before glancing toward Kade. “It’s fine,” he says in a low, gravelly voice.

“It didn’t sound fine.”

He moves in a blur and appears in front of me, so close the tops of his shoes touch mine. “And what exactly do you think you heard, Calla?” His voice is dark, venomous, and the flash of his fangs makes me stiffen.

I want nothing more than to move away, but I won’t give him the satisfaction of making me back down. I also can’t ignore that something about him, the darkness in him, draws me in. I want to test his limits. To see just how far I can push him before his control snaps. Clearly, my self-preservation hops on a train straight to crazy town when it comes to Atlas.

“She didn’t hear anything,” Kade says from behind me.

Atlas is still glowering at me. “Is that so?”

I hold my head high and my shoulders back. “You could tell me now,” I offer.

Kade chuckles before exiting the room, the only indication that he left being the click of the door closing behind him.

Atlas purses his lips. “Oh, could I?” His tone is condescending. “I don’t see that happening.”

“And what exactlydoyou see happening?” I ask in a clipped voice, echoing his words.

He grabs my chin; it’s not gentle the way Kade did earlier, and yet, my heart is still racing with anticipation.What the fuck is wrong with me?

“What’s your angle?” I push, making no attempt to free myself from his grip. “There has to be some bigger reason you’re keeping me here and alive. And I don’t believe for a second that it’s just to fuck and feed on me.”

His eyes narrow ever so slightly, and he leans closer. His lips barely brush mine when he speaks. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should just be glad we’re keeping you alive?”

I hold his gaze. “That’s not good enough.”

There’s a flash of surprise in those bright silver eyes, but it’s gone as quick as it came. He drops my chin and steps back. “Fine. You may come in handy with certain… business acquisitions.”

I shake my head, clenching my hands into fists at my sides as annoyance fills me. “What the hell does that even mean?”

He shrugs. “Whatever I need it to.”

I grit my teeth. “You are such an asshole.”

Atlas says nothing to that. The second I trick myself into thinking I’m making a bit of progress here, I’m brutally reminded just how wrong I am when Atlas opens his mouth.

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