“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Stark stands there, a smirk plastered on his leech face like he has all the time in the world. But my instincts are screaming. The air crackles, my skin tightens, every nerve ending firing a single, primal warning: killer.
A tiny mewl catches my attention, and I notice he’s still holding the cat.
Not only did the fanged fucker catch me with my guard down, he did it while holding a fucking kitten.
Shit, Z. A vampire with a kitten. You got taken out by a vampire with a kitten.
“You really should stop following me, Hunter.”
My pulse skips.
I hadn’t heard him move.
Hadn’t seen him move.
Hell, one second he was halfway down the alley and the next I was eating brick.
“Excuse me?”
Stark sighs.
“It's becoming repetitive.”
“What’s the matter, Stark? Embarrassed I caught you with the fur ball? Afraid I might think you’ve gone soft?”
Stark glances down at the kitten.
“No.”
That's it.
Just no.
Somehow it's more insulting than if he'd threatened me.
I wasn’t planning on showing my cards yet, but since he has me cornered, I might as well see what I can shake loose.
But my words have the opposite effect. His smirk is back, although it’s more malicious than amused.
“Careful, Hunter. Word is your kind has been dropping like flies lately—and I’d hate to see you go up in smoke.”
Fuck. His words are a lit match on dry tinder. Heat flashes behind my eyes—the same helpless, burning rage from the night my brother died. This bastard knows. He was there, or he knows who was. I fucking knew it.
My jaw tightens until my back teeth ache.
Fuck this guy.
“Now, I ask again, why are you following me? You made quite a mess in my shop the other day. But you got me out of a rather precarious situation, so I’ll let you off the hook this time. But my patience is running thin, Hunter, and I rarely repeat myself. Don’t make me do it again.Answer the fucking question.”
He ends his statement on a growl, which in turn automatically activates my shield marks. The kitten in his arms lets out a tiny, spitting hiss, a sound so absurdly fierce it almost breaks my focus, a ridiculous exclamation point on a deadly sentence.
The raw anger from a second ago just… deflates. The absurdity of it all—the vampire, the hissing kitten, the standoff—is a bucket of ice water on my fury.
What is even happening here?
Damn it.
