Page 44

“I’ll end him before he has the chance,” he ground out.

I swallowed around the barb in my throat. “You think it’s Kent Ellison’s brother?”

I didn’t want to shirk or hide from what he was implying.

I’d heard rumblings around the compound that Shayne Ellison was every bit as foul as his brother. Maybe more so. At least he’d proven more dangerous since he’d gotten away, slipped right through Crimson Crows’ fingers, when more than eighty others hadn’t.

And now…

Trevan’s fingertips were suddenly brushing the length of my jaw.

A shiver rolled through me.

A quivering of fear and a bolt of desire.

“Don’t be scared. I won’t let him get to you.” His words were gravel, though his eyes were soft as they flicked over my face.

“I’m not afraid because I know you won’t. And he’s only one man.”

Trevan blinked, his lashes creating a shadow across his strong cheekbones in the soft duskiness that filtered into the room.

“We don’t know that, Elena. He could have a thousand men at his beck and call.”

I gulped. “I thought he had disappeared?”

“We knew he’d be back.”

“But…what if this isn’t related? I know you think it does mean something, but I think we need to keep our options open and not jump to conclusions. It’s not like it’s a death note or something. Besides, why would he come here? Wouldn’t he be lurking around the compound?”

Silas was the Crimson Crows’ President.

I imagined he was the main target, not that the thought brought any comfort. This was the part that I hated. The fact that every step they took was wrought with peril.

I knew they would all claim it was worth the risk. Knew they believed what they were giving back to the world by eradicating it of the filth was worthy of any cost.

But this was my family, and as much as I supported their mission, it didn’t make it any easier.

Disquiet curled through Trevan’s expression, and I swore that every one of my senses tuned into his consciousness.

My eyes filled with the dark outline of his enormous, raging frame.

At his proximity, my senses were swamped with his scent.

Charred oak and butterscotch.

Something I could almost taste on my tongue.

My skin hummed with the intensity that radiated from his, and my ears keened with his jarring, discordant breaths.

Every one of them was so potent that I felt like I was swimming in their dark, fathomless waters.

The man was as turbulent as an ocean night.

A harbor and ruin.

“Think you know why, Elena.” His insinuation clawed through my spirit.

His mind had also gone straight to my kidnapping.