PHOENIX
“Aubrey.”My voice was a warning as I stalked after him. I’d thought… fuck, I wasn’t sure what I’d thought. He’d been so excited about the idea of tigers that I’d thought the skull might make him happy.
Instead, he’d shoved past me and tried to make his way deeper into the house.
“Fuck off, Phoenix. I’m tired.” He was full of shit. No one who was a carrier could be tired right now. I could feel the rain outside, could feel it trickling against the roof like it was tingling against my skin. I knew without a doubt that the rest of my pack would probably be out in it, hunting. Making sure we had food to eat.
I was here with my own prey, and I realized I wasupset.
I didn’t know who the fuck Bishop was, though that was the name on his tags. The ones the Order asshole he’d been with when I’d first seen him said didn’tbelong to him.
I didn’t know who Bishop was, but I’d trailed through that fucking jungle to find him a tiger skull and he’d thrown it on the ground.
“Comehere, Aubrey.”
He was making his way further into the house, but there wasn’t really anywhere he could go.
Nowhere he could hide.
Fuck, I was so tired of himhidingfrom me. I was tired of him pretending that he wasn’t just as vicious, just as capable of killing. I was tired of him pretending that he couldn’t feel the rain too.
I took a few more steps toward him and watched him pull his knife—I wasn’t sure if my expression was more shocked or amused.
“Are you going to cut me?”
“Your head is all fucked with the rain.” Even as he said it, we both knew it was a lie. Yeah, the rain was slowly starting to get under my skin. Even without it touching me, I could feel it—my body tingling, my blood rushing.
Instinct burning through me and telling me that now…
Now was the time—now was the only time I could prove to Aubrey that he was just as much an animal as I was.
It made me take two steps back, made me twist the door open. The wind caught it, and the smell of rain on the leaves infiltrated my senses.
Fuck, it was going to be a good storm.
I stepped out and groaned as soon as it hit my skin.
“Are you fucking crazy, Phoenix? Get out of the storm.”
I threw my arms wide, tilting my head back and letting the coolness of the water wash over my skin. Why the fuckwould I get out of the rain? My pack and I loved this weather the most. We loved it when the people who couldn’t accept that the world had changed, that we weredifferent, cornered themselves while trying to hide away. I could feel it now, soaking into my skin, running along my nerves, making my body burn… to hunt. To kill.
To claim.
“Either tell me who the fuck you were talking about earlier or come out here. You can do it with or without the knife. It’s not going to change anything.” I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be coherent enough to convince him with words, and I think he saw it too. Aubrey scrambled away as I tilted my head back again and let the water slick across my lashes. The thunder crashed above me, and I moved without warning.
He ran, but he wasn’t going to be fast enough. Not now. Not in the rain. All I could think of was his flushed skin, the way his lean muscles were on display beneath the tank top he wore. His hair was still wet from the shower, and he was beautiful.
Beautiful andmine, and I was ready to do whatever it took for him to finally mean it when he said it.
I wasn’t surprised when the knife he was holding bit into my arm in a shallow slash that still left a trail of scarlet running down my wrist—Aubrey’s eyes were wild, wide and panicked and desperate. I couldseehow much the rain outside was trying to claw its way under his skin.
I could see exactly how much he was like me.
“You’re so willing for me to bleed as long as you’re the one doing it, huh? Come on, Aubrey.” It almost felt like Iwas choking on his name, trying to swallow it down, trying to keep it for myself. I wanted to eat him whole. “Tell me, or let it go. Tell me or come into the rain and let me fuck you until there’s no room for you to feel it anymore.”
That’s what this had been about all along, right? Me fucking away his pain. That was why he was with me. Because I was powerful, punishing. Because I was strong.
If that was all he wanted, that was the monster I’d be. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, tugging him forward.
