Page 55 of Bite of Sin

My eyes widened when I saw my closed curtains. How the hell had he gotten here when the sun was still up?

“Sewer tunnels are a great way to get around during the day.” Pax answered my silent question as he pushed off the desk. “Where were you?”

“Exploring the hotel,” I said with a shrug. “Staying in here was making me stir crazy.”

He frowned, crossing the room in a few steps. “I’ve been waiting for you all damn day. You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” I hissed. “This place is huge—”

He reached forward, grabbing the back of my neck, pulling me close until his lips were right near my ear. “I can smell it. You were in the woods. This room isn’t soundproof, so be careful what you say to me unless you want your secret out.”

His words had barely been over a whisper, and once he was done, he moved back half a step. Fury was brewing in his eyes, and I crossed my arms.

“I needed a break,” I said in a whisper. “I didn’t leave.”

“You can’t leave,” he shot back. “Zan would have found you.”

“So I keep hearing,” I muttered. “Why are you here?”

“I want your hawthorn.”

I almost had to read his lips to catch the last words, and fear jolted through me. His patience was gone. He was either going to turn me or entrance me. Seeing as he wanted my hawthorn, I was guessing the latter.

“I can’t just leave Warner,” I said stiffly. “You entrance me, and then what? He dies?”

He mumbled a curse, running a hand over his short hair. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Not good enough—”

“You have no say here,” he cut me off, a threat in every word. “I’m done. You’re learning too fucking much. Fight me on this, and I’ll just turn you.”

We were still talking in whispers, but my panic was rising, and I had to remember to stay quiet. My hands curled into fists, and I cried out in protest when he whirled around and went for my backpack that he’d already found under the bed.

“Don’t,” I demanded in a strangled voice, lunging toward him. “I’ll give it to you.”

He was already digging through my bag, turning around to keep me from reaching it. A second later, he just dumped it all over my bed. He unzipped the small pockets, and my heart seized when he pulled out my mother’s note. With a snarl, I snatched it from his hand, and he whipped around.

“What is that?” he asked, suspicion written all over his face.

“It’s personal,” I said, my voice trembling. “A letter from my dead mother. Want to take that from me too?”

That deflated him a bit, and he eyed my hand one last time before turning back around and digging through my things. Since the gun was at the club and my stake was on me, all that was in there was clothes, food, the lotion, and the hawthorn. I’d hidden the bullets for the gun in another abandoned room, and after this, I was definitely putting my backpack in there every day too.

“Five days,” he said, pocketing the bag of hawthorn. “Once I know it’s out of your system, we’re ending this.”

“I need to change,” I forced out. “Get out.”

“You should be more grateful that I’m not just killing you.”

“Thank you so much for sparing my life,” I drawled sarcastically. “Now, can you leave?”

“Don’t wear any of those clothes to the club,” he warned as he headed to the door. “You smell like pine needles.”

With those words, he disappeared down the hall. I slammed the door before falling onto the bed with all my things. Fuck. I didn’t exactly need the hawthorn, but that didn’t matter much. I only had five days to figure a way out for both Warner and me.

Chapter23

Zan

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