By the time I reach her, I’m so close I can smell her perfume over the stale beer and sweat. Sweet. Addictive. I dip my head until my lips brush her ear.
“Run.”
Her breath catches, chest rising sharply against the low cut of that sinful dress. She knows I mean it.
“Run,” I repeat, voice rough, “and I’ll find you.”
She smirks—cocky, reckless—but her pulse gives her away, fluttering like a trapped bird under her skin. Then she slips past me, weaving into the crowd again.
And I follow.
The crowd closes around her like a maze, but she doesn’t know the walls belong to me. Every corner, every hallway, every shadow in this place—I own it. She can run, but she’ll never get far.
I watch the sway of her hips as she slips deeper into the pulse of the dance floor, the strobe lights cutting her into fragments—here, gone, here again. My little phantom, daring me to catch her.
She glances over her shoulder once. Just once. That’s all I need.
Because it isn’t fear in her eyes. It’s a challenge.
My cock throbs, rage and desire bleeding into one ugly, perfect knot in my chest. She wants me angry. She wants me to starve. She doesn’t understand that’s when I’m at my most dangerous.
She disappears toward the back, down a narrow hall lined with velvet curtains. Private alcoves. Shadows thick enough to hide in. She thinks she’s clever, slipping away where Kate won’t follow.
I push after her, the press of bodies thinning, the music muffled by heavy walls. The further I go, the darker it gets, until it’s just me, the pounding of bass like a heartbeat in the distance, and the faint click of her heels ahead of me.
I slow down.
Deliberate.
Let her hear me coming.
One step. Then another.
Her pace quickens, and the sound is fucking intoxicating. She wants to run, but not too fast. She wants me to catch her, but not too soon.
Good girl.
I round the corner, and there she is—caught at the end of the hallway, palm pressed against the wall like she needs it to steady herself. With each frantic breath, she turned her head, her gaze erratic.
“Going somewhere?” My voice is low, filling the space between us.
She smirks, but it falters at the edges. “Just needed some air.”
I stalk closer slowly, savouring every flicker of her nerves. “Liar.”
She straightens her spine, tilts her chin. “You don’t own me.”
I chuckle darkly and sharply, the sound echoing off the walls. “Don’t I?”
Another step. Then another. She presses back into the wall, no more space left to retreat, her smirk slipping even as her eyes burn with defiance.
I brace my hand against the wall beside her head, caging her in, my body crowding hers without even touching. Her breath shudders, her pulse frantic.
“You wanted this,” I growl against her ear. “All that running, all that teasing—you wanted me to hunt you. So here we are.”
Her lips part, a soft gasp escaping, but she doesn’t answer.
She doesn’t need to.
