There was another charged pause where he held his breath, thinking maybe the other man had gone or was going to silently mess with him all night, but then he got another text.
Pavel:Do you really think that, Doctor?
Before Zane could feel a sense of triumph, his multi-slate dinged again.
Pavel:Do you really think I’m pretty?
Zane scrunched his nose in distaste and hissed practically under his breath, “You can’t be serious right now.”
Pavel:As serious as a serial killer hunting his lover down in a forest.
He, admittedly, wasted a lot of time staring at his screen when that one came in. Partly because the quick response meant Pavel was close enough to hear him even when he was whispering, and partly because…
“Serial killer?” He wracked his brain for any recollections about recent murders or whether or not there’d been any known deaths with connections. But of course, if Pavel really was a repeat offender, he wouldn’t have left a trail for the police to find. “Does Kelevra know this about you as well?”
Kel wouldn’t bat an eye about murder, but multiple killings that could lead back to a member of the Retinue? The Imperial family had ruled the planet for centuries, but that didn’t mean some appeasement of the people wasn’t necessary time and again to keep things that way. His sisters, while extremely lenient toward him, also wouldn’t be okay with him allowing a known problem to roam the streets.
Pavel:Interesting that that’s the part you got hung up on.
Zane frowned for the millionth time that night, certain that his face was going to get tired before the rest of him did. He wasn’t used to…emoting. Especially not like this. But it was too hard to try and hide his reactions and, frankly, weren’t they sort of past that point anyway?
Pavel:Does this mean you’re warming up to the idea?
“What idea?” Shit. He was the one being reeled in now wasn’t he.Againtoo, because despite being used to being the puppet master pulling the strings, this entire night had shown him what having the shoe on the opposite foot felt like.
He wasn’t a fan.
Pavel:The idea of being mine.
How had—
Pavel:Lover.
Zane reread the earlier message and inwardly cursed at himself. He’d skimmed right over that part in lieu of the more pressing information.
Apparently, he should not have.
“Quit messaging me and just speak,” he demanded, a twinge of frustration seeping out of him. “I already know you’re there, and if this chase is really as important to you as you say it is, you’re going to have to give me something more to get me to cooperate.”
“Something more?” He reallywasclose. Too close.
Zane’s head snapped to the right and he angled his body toward the sound, even though he still couldn’t see any signs of the other man. The other man whose voice had come from less than ten feet away.
“What should I offer you, gorgeous? Hmm?” Pavel practically purred, sounding way too sure of himself.
Zane’s brow furrowed. “You think you’re placating me.”
“Aren’t I?”
“No.” He needed to think. Usually he was great at that, at staying several steps ahead of everyone else even as he sat quietly in the background unnoticed. But Pavel…Pavel was acting strange, and this had all come so suddenly that Zane was having a very difficult time wrapping his head around it.
“Have you stalled enough?” Pavel asked then. “I think you have. Run.”
Zane shook his head. “That’s not a game I like to play.”
“Are you certain?” He grunted. “You’ve kept me waiting a long time.”
“I have not,” Zane corrected, suddenly reminded of that night a few months ago when he’d caught Pavel outside Kazimir’s apartment. He’d been suspicious then, but he’d assumed the other Retinue was there for Kaz for one reason or another. Had he really been so off the mark? “You were lurkingin the shadows. I had no idea you were even interested. I can’t be blamed for—”
