I flatten my expression, level my stare with his, and keep my voice steady. “Anything?” Whatever comfort Julien thought he’d earned dissolves at my tone. “Like letting another bite me?”
“No.” Julien’s gaze plummets into darkness, but it doesn’t deter me. It feeds me.
The others are watching Julien now, tracking his response, possibly planning to intervene, maybe even subdue.
“She doesn’t mean it,”Sai tries.“Keep calm. Don’t say anything rash.”
But now all I want to do is unchain the beast.
“You’d be restrained,” I goad, “chained, made to watch while another fed from me, marked me, made me—”
“You believe I deserve that?” Julien’s voice is rough, as though the words are cutting him open.
But I’m not answering his question. This is his turn to speak. His time to suffer. And yes… maybe I did. Maybe I want to watch what would happen when his choice is ripped away. When the one thing he wants is close enough to taste, and taken by another.
But I don’t respond, and the silence makes it worse. His feelings twist and spike into dangerous territory as the shadows sweep towards him, cloaking his tall frame like a rising storm.
“Julien, ground yourself,”Ezekial mentally urges.“Can’t you see she’s trying to push you?”He’s leaning towards Julien.
I noticeallthe men are.
So I decide to go for the killing blow.
“If that’s what I decided, would you let another mark me?” My nail drags across the cut. “Bite me? Taste me?”
He has to answer, he has no choice, and to encourage this, I tap into my darkness.
I play a fake memory into his mind. It’s a painted picture, a fabricated lie, but it feels real. A moving image of a shadowy figure reaching for me, holding me, their teeth about to pierce my skin whilst he’s chained and forced to watch—
“I—” Julien clenches his jaw, silencing himself as his irises dissolve into black.
He trembles, muscles straining as he fights the serum. I remember that pain, the burning, the slicing, how it pulls up from your gut and along your throat until you can’t help but—
“I would fuckingslaughterthem for daring to touch what is mine.”
The room is still.
“What. A. Save,”Sai murmurs, unmissably dry.
But I’m too distracted by Julien’s claim, more so my reaction to it. My darkness soars at the possessive tone, seeking the dark-being across from me and reaching him without my approval.
“Would you make them suffer?”It—we—I ask, my vision hazy.
“In ways you can’t even imagine,”he vows, that familiar elegance threading through each word like silk pulled taut.“I’ve killed for you. I’d live for you. I’ll worship you.”
Fuck. I’m meant to remain strong, unaffected. But his words, his voice—him.
He is worthy.
I snatch my eyes away, stare at the table, trying to anchor my control. I just need a second, just a moment of quiet to reinforce my thoughts—
“You know when it was for me, Red.” My gaze slices to Sai.“When did I know?” He grins even under my uncomfortable hold. “I’ve already told you… the second I saw you—”
“Save the dramatics.” My voice is cold and clipped.
I remember all too well his heated declarations, how every line wasevisceratedthe second he laid eyes on me.
He frowns. “I can’t lie… you know I can’t. The first time we met, I didn’t know exactly whatitwas… but I knew it was something. Then our powers connected—”
