I shake my head, a nervous scoff bubbling out as my gaze snaps to Julien—his expression cuts me dead.
There’s no smile or softness. Just hunger, barely restrained.
Sai’s fingers brush higher, along the edge of the slit. Higher. A whisper of contact along my thigh. A threat of more.
“And when we catch you,” Sai whispers, “you’re going to fight.”
I don’t laugh this time. I swallow, and Julien’s darkened gaze tracks the movement like he wants to feel it beneath his tongue.
“Fight?” I rasp.
“As hard as you can,” Julien says at last, voice so deep and rough it drags goosebumps over my skin. “Kick. Scratch. Bite. Make usbleed.” His teeth snap together on that word.
I glance between them, heartbeat thrashing in my ears as I try to pretend their ridiculous words evoke nothing. But there’s a part of me already preparing to run.
Then my eyes catch on the silver circle at Sai’s neck. Now he’s close enough to make out the words engraved there. Just two…
My breath catches.
Jasmine Nimur.
The low thrum of something primal curls in my chest. Possessiveness, maybe. Or even pride.
Sai’s eyes darken, smile growing feral. “Safe word.”
“Pit,” I breathe.
“Good girl,” Sai coos in a deep hum, his sapphire gleam cracking with black. “You say that, and everything stops. Remember that. Because when we catch you…”
His fingers trail under the slit, brushing over my hip, finding it bare. I couldn’t wear underwear with this dress. His hand stills, exhaling a pained breath at the discovery.
“Ifyou catch me,” I whisper in a dare.
Darkness descends. All the shadows swell and their pupils explode, devouring the last pieces of colour.
Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. Or maybe it was perfect.
Because I want them like this.
Dark, raw—feral. Completely unhinged. Starving. Desperate.
In their truest, darkest forms.
“Run, Red.”
I wet my lips, then slowly push back my chair. The legs scrape against the floor, so loud in the thick silence.
They track every movement. Their bodies tense, all muscles coiled, ready to pounce.
But still, so eerily still.
I take one small step back. Then another.
The staircase enters my peripheral, but I’ll never make it up those steps fast enough. The chase would end before it even began.
No, I need to get out of their sight.
I keep moving, glancing over my shoulder to the extended living room.
