It didn’t.
That was because his hand came up instantly, cupping the back of my head, fingers spreading against my hair to shield me from the impact he himself had caused. His other arm bracedabove my head, closing the space entirely. I could feel the heat of him now. The controlled tension in his frame, and I would have been an idiot had I not been frightened of him in that moment.
“You believe I would harm someone for speaking to you…” he said, his tone so calm it would have been foolish to mistake it for reassurance. I heard it in the way he delivered the words, this was not denial forming on his tongue, but stark acknowledgement.
“…And you are not wrong,” he finished at the same time as his hand tightened in my hair, making me gasp again.
Although, it wasn’t painful, just possessive, and something shifted behind his eyes. Silver flashed there. Something furious settling there, turning his eyes into something darker than their usual striking ice blue color. The air thickened, shadows at the edges of the corridor seeming to lean inward, drawn toward him.
“You do understand that it is forbidden for you to know what you know…don’t you?”he continued, his voice lowering into something that vibrated through my bones.
But I was stuck on that one word that carried far more weight than it should.
Forbidden.
It struck somewhere deep, too close to the truth of what I was to him…What I was not meant to be.
His head dipped then, deliberately slow like he had all the time in the world with me. His nose brushed the curve of my neck as he inhaled deeply. The sensation stole the air from my lungs. His fingers tightened in my hair just enough to hold me still, not cruel, not careless, but unyielding.
The faintest pressure then grazed my skin, and I froze.
Fangs.
He had fucking fangs!
Yet they didn’t pierce my skin, instead they simply hovered over my quivering flesh. The promise of them sent a violentclash of sensations through me. Fear and heat colliding so sharply I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. My pulse thundered in my ears, every instinct screaming at me to push him away, and yet my body betrayed me by arching infinitesimally closer. The slight movement on my part had him groaning into my neck, and shame filled me.
“So, I’m here to be punished?” I asked, trying to mask the dangerous slip of desire that made me want to step closer instead of away. Although, admittedly, the words barely made it past my lips. Another low and dangerous sound left him, something far closer to a growl than a laugh.
“No one would dare punish you,”he practically snarled, lifting his gaze to mine, silver still ghosting faintly at the edges of the darkness.
“But someone will answer for this!”The inevitability in his tone made my stomach twist.
“And that…” I managed, breath uneven now,
“…is exactly why I won’t tell you.”
His thumb shifted slightly in my hair, the smallest of warnings.
“I will find out,” he stated firmly, like it wasn’t only a threat but more like…law.
“What remains uncertain…” he continued, his mouth still close enough to my throat that I could feel the warmth of his breath against my pulse,
“…is how lenient I will be when I do.”
For one reckless, terrifying heartbeat, I thought he might bite me after that. And if I were being honest with myself, part of me not only feared it but more than anything else…
Part of me wanted him to.
The humiliation of that realization burned hotter than the fear itself. However, in the end, my fears were for nothing, as instead of biting me and claiming me there and then, hepulled back abruptly. As though dragging something feral back into submission. The shadows eased after that as if they, too, had been yanked back suddenly. The silver in his eyes faded with it, and his expression smoothed into something controlled. Something composed and dangerous in an entirely different way.
“Come,” he said, steady again, as though the Enforcer still lingered beneath the surface. He held his hand out for me to take, but I swallowed hard and nodded. This time, I made my feelings clear by continuing forward without taking his offered hand, forcing him to let it fall back to his side. I didn’t miss the way his fingers curled slowly into a fist once it was there, and I hated the small stab of guilt that followed.
It was only when we reached the midpoint of the hall that something shifted. At first, I didn’t register it consciously. My steps simply slowed, my gaze drifting ahead with a faint frown tugging at my brow. The far end of the space opened into another chamber, and along the perimeter of the walls stood a series of tall, pale forms arranged at careful intervals.
Statues!
The word formed in my mind before I could stop it.
