Page 31 of Decadence

She tensed. Was that a threat? He wanted to buy out the entire complex?

So that’s why he’d paid her an unexpected visit.

She so didn’t need this shit right now.

Her fingers tightened around the knife. Just go away, Connor. Leave me alone.

Cleo moved in protectively.

Connor’s hired muscle followed suit, falling into step behind their boss.

“The negotiations are already in place. I’m buying this place, Sienna. You can either fall into line and work under my terms, or get the hell out.”

“No,” she blurted as the ground threatened to fall away from under her feet… again. “Why bother with all that shit, pretending to worry about me? Why not just get to the point?”

“Because, believe it or not, I do care about you, darling.”

Strangely, she knew he was speaking the truth, and she wanted no part of it.

And that’s when she felt it.

A faint ripple down the back of her neck. A tingle; a chill, like hundreds of ice-footed ants running over her scalp and down her back.

What’s this feeling?

A presence.

Was it really possible to feel a presence? This was the kind of shit you only read about in overly dramatic fiction novels.

But no, she could really feel it. It was like pressure, only cold; an aura that radiated outwards, demanding her absolute attention.

Something—no, someone—was behind her.

Suddenly, everything else—Connor beside her, the rush of cars and drones on the street, the garish neon lights, Cleo in the doorway—it all faded into the back of her awareness as she turned around.

The world changed gears, shifting into slow-motion…

And she locked eyes with the man who had frustrated and confused her in her dreams.

The alien.

Ikriss.

Only now, the eyes that stared back at her were green, not wolfish amber. And his face was human colored, even though his features were exactly the same; severe, angular, elegant.

Confusion scrambled her thoughts.

How is this possible? Was it elaborate make-up and artificial lenses? No; his skin and eyes were too realistic looking.

The effect was jarring. He looked almost human, and yet he so obviously wasn’t, but perhaps that was because she’d known him from before; she’d seen him in his element on that silent ship, in all his dark-and-powerful glory.

Only his hair remained the same color. It was still as pale as moonlight, and as messy as ever, carefully arranged over his pointed elven ears, because surely there was no way he could hide those.

“Sienna, what’s wrong?” Cleo turned and looked in the same direction. Her jaw dropped in surprise.

Emmett was standing at the back of the dining room, looking tense.

And to think she’d sent him out the back to tell the Shadow himself to go away.

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