‘If you kill me, you'll never find out who wants you dead.’
“Assassin,” he said, finding himself leaning forward, only to go predator still. His stomach clenched, senses on steroids as his beast pushed to the front of his mind. Titus stretched his chi out to brush against hers, expecting a prickly sensation to match her attitude. But instead he found…nothing. “Wait, you’re a fucking human?”
Something snapped inside his chest, the sensation strange, a warmth spreading. He would have acknowledged it if a faint blush hadn’t darkened her cheeks, bringing out the pale freckles across the bridge of her nose.Thiswas who’d tried to kill him?
“You don’t need to make it sound so disgusting. And we call ourselves contractors.”
Titus didn’t care for her reply, eyes drifting over her features with sharp focus. Those emerald eyes pinched under his scrutiny, but for once she remained silent as he studied her.
Humans didn’t have a specific look, but he would have bet money on her being anything else. There was just something about her, something ethereal that no human could pull off so effortlessly. Her eyes a fraction too large. Heart shaped face too symmetrical. Her porcelain skin too perfect, not a single blemish marking the soft surface other than a slight scar on her temple.
Titus couldn’t help himself as he reached forward to wrap his hand around her throat once more, her pulse doubling in speed as he gently brushed his thumb over it. He didn’t tighten the hold, just held. Controlled as her delicate pink lips parted.
“You need me,” she said on a breathless whisper.
Fuck the Fates.
A human had tried to kill him, and likely came close.
“Tell me everything.” His voice came out harsher than he’d intended, but he continued to brush his thumb against her pulse, feeling it spike. “Who hired you?”
She tried to swallow, feeling the movement with his palm. “It doesn’t work like that,” she said, fire burning in her eyes. “I only receive the assignment once it’s agreed, telling me how long I have for the hit. I don’t get the details of who hired the Guild.” She tried to shrug, pulse finally calming beneath his strokes. “I sometimes get more information, but your assignment was basic. Literally just a name and a picture.”
“Picture?” His growl vibrated through his chest. “Where?”
“I don’t have it here.” Her brows furrowed, eyes snapping over his shoulder as if looking for some invisible saviour that didn’t exist.
Titus dipped his head forward, her sweet, yet tart scent of peaches and cream invading his lungs. “Tell me your name.” When she hesitated, he tightened his grip, just a little, enough for her to feel his capability of ending her life. But he wouldn’t, because she was right, he needed her. “Tell. Me. Your. Name.” The chain connecting them rattled, the weight of the cuff a reminder that she’d fucking trapped him.
“Rae,” she finally said with a defiant snarl. “It’s Rae.”
Rae.His beast repeated her name across his mind, testing it. Tasting it.
He released her throat, stepping back enough that her shoulders loosened slightly. The cuff was heavy on his wrist, the chain so thick he knew he would do more harm than good if he tried to break it. Twisting around he searched for the keyhole, anger pulsing through his veins at the tiny hole. He wouldn’t be able to pick it open with only one hand anyway, and no way would he call one of his brothers. They were already watching him like hawks, waiting for something to happen that would push him over the edge.
“Take off the handcuff.”
Her large eyes rounded, flicking down to her own wrist. Her gaze took in the thickness of the metal, and then the length of the chain. “I can’t.”
Titus closed his eyes, praying for patience. “What do you mean you can’t?”
“I don’t have the key.” When he didn’t respond, she continued, her words coming out in a rush. “He was beating his wife, and the assignment stipulated it had to look like a robbery gone wrong, so I took it. I thought after that maybe I could sell it, but who wants handcuffs with no key?”
“And you shooting me in the chest?”
“Heart,” she added. “I was specifically asked to shoot you in the heart.” Her eyes dipped to his t-shirt covered chest, as if she could see through the fabric. “I very rarely miss.”
Titus was going to break his jaw, or at least his teeth if he didn’t relax. “You didn’t.”
Rae’s eyes dilated, excitement flaring across her irises, which only made Ti want to wrap his hand around her throat again, and feel her pleasure through her pulse. She enjoyed the thought of hurting him, or at least the praise of succeeding.
“I have this guy, he’ll be able to get us out of it.”
“You have a guy?” Titus tugged hard on his arm, and the chain yanked her a step forward, hands coming up to slap against his chest. “Do this often, then?”
Rae pursed her lips, rubbing at the skin beneath the metal. It had cut, the scent of blood driving his beast crazy. Violent. Titus forced his beast down, keeping himself perfectly immobile as he articulated his next words with clear precision. “I’m not asking again. Get the cuff off, Rae.” He didn’t like to not be in control.
Her eyes glowed with resentment, but she didn’t step back. “I just said I know someone.”
