Page 53 of Kept

“Zella?” Maverick calls me as I pull the handle, and I turn back to him.

“Be careful.” His words are soft, but intentional. “Enzo… he’s not like us.”

My mind skitters over my last dungeon experience, and a furnace simmers to life inside my stomach. Maverick is right. Enzo’s energy is what I imagine a trapped animal would feel like - temporarily contained, but always dangerous.

Not something to turn your back on, unless you want to feel their teeth in your neck.

Swallowing, I nod, and then dart from the room.

Why does that visual make the furnace hotter?

20 - Enzo

I’m wiping down the walls when I hear the soft pad of footsteps on the stairs. The girl’s light breathing sounds a little fast, and she pauses, her feet shifting from side to side when I don’t turn around.

“Enzo?” Her voice is tentative, on edge.

My lips pull up as I continue in my work, my image reflected back at me in the metal. Zella makes her way over to me, and I watch as her reflection gets clearer.

“Maverick told me to come down here?”

The words are uncertain, and it sends a rush of enjoyment through my veins. I like her being on edge around me. I spent a sleepless night tossing and turning, tormented with images of her.

A little fear in return is only fair.

I’m not expecting soft fingers to land against my back, and I flinch away from the touch instinctively. With a growl, I spin, my fingers shooting out and wrapping around her slim neck.

She chokes in my grasp. The entertainment I felt a moment ago has disappeared, and I drag her closer to snarl in her face. “Never touch my back.”

Her face has darkened, the choking breaths an apology I don’t give a flying fuck about as I loosen my hold and she backs away from me.

“I’m sorry–”

“I don’t care.” Cutting her garbled words off, I go back to my task. Dipping the cloth into the bucket, I run it over a patch I’ve already done, my flash of temper ebbing away as quickly as it came.

Still. Better she learn now than later.

When I finally turn to her, I expect her face to be filled with fear, for her to flinch away from me. But she’s silent, her eyes distant as she stares at the far wall. She doesn’t respond to my movements at all.

Frowning, I take a step closer. “What’s wrong with you?”

It takes a moment, but she blinks, turning to me. A red ring of finger marks already rings her neck, and I pause.

It looks like a collar.

I expect fear, but she responds calmly enough. “Where do you want me?”

Her innocent question sends my eyes flying to the table. She looked perfect on there.

I’ve never had a female on my table before. Perhaps it’s something I should consider. Expand my horizons, so to speak. Evil doesn’t only exist in the men of the world.

But the only person I can imagine there right now is my little prey, who’s watching me with wide eyes.

Fuck, does she know how ripe she is? Just waiting for someone to come along and destroy her innocence.

I want to destroy it.

Fire blazes in my veins, but I force it down. Ignoring her, I stalk over to the desk I have set up in the corner, sitting down and reaching for my paperwork.

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