Page 89

“What boundary?” I manage between broken breaths.

Malakai looks toward the ground.

At first, there’s nothing there. No fence or gate. Nothing separating one stretch of gravel from the next.

Then I see it.

A narrow line of dead corn kernels pressed into the dirt, so dark and shriveled they nearly disappear against the ground. They stretch from one side of the road to the other. I stare at them. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

The ribbon burns hotter.

Another scream rips out of me.

Malakai pulls me against him and closes his hand around my wrist, covering the red satin with his palm.

The pain vanishes. Not fades… just stops.

I suck in a desperate breath and stare at him. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

His hand is still around my wrist, skin pressed against mine. And now that the pain is gone, something else rushes in to replace it.

Heat.

Not the searing agony from the ribbon.

This is different.

Familiar.

The same warmth that moved through me when we kissed, only stronger now, spreading from his palm through my arms and sinking lower with every breath.

Mine catches.

So does his.

Oh.

Absolutely fucking not.

The red ribbon loosens beneath his hand.

Malakai feels it happen. His gaze drops to my wrist before lifting his eyes to mine.

Ezra notices too. “What did you do?”

“I touched her.”

Rhett tilts his head. “That’s interesting.”

“Nothing about tonight is interesting!” I snap.

He considers that for half a second. “Fair.”

Malakai’s thumb brushes once across the inside of my wrist. Maybe it’s accidental. My body doesn’t give a shit.