Her face crumples. Not into tears, not into softness, but into something worse.
She looks at me like I’ve ripped her open without lifting a finger.
We stand in silence, our breaths steaming between us in the cold. The leash hangs slack.
When I finally start walking again, pulling her along by the arm, she doesn’t fight me as I lead us to the club.
With another quick drop of blood on the enchanted rune, we are inside.
For the second time, I lead Aurora past the main area to the back where I’ve already reserved a private room.
Once she’s inside, I stand at the door looking out for interested parties as much as I’m keeping her inside.
“I’m not doing it,” she says behind me, her voice stiff with defiance.
I don’t answer.
Instead, I keep my focus trained on the crowd outside the private room—scanning for someone with steady energy, someone who won’t scare her or overstimulate her.
Someone I can stomach watching touch her. The list is fucking short.
“This is useless,” she mutters.
I turn just in time to block the exit with my body.
She nearly crashes into my chest but pulls back at the last moment. “Move,” she orders without meeting my gaze.
The dark, sickly energy seems to have doubled around her from the last time I looked.
“No.”
She tries to push past me, clearly not caring anymore if I burn her. I catch her arm in a gloved hand, gently but firmly. Snow was right. Why the hell didn’t I get these things earlier?
Aurora's breath hitches, caught somewhere between fury and exhaustion. “You’re torturing me.”
She might as well have shoved a knife into my chest and twisted. “I’m saving you.” I say the words through the guilt and pain.
Then her eyes flick over my shoulder, and I feel the shift before she says a word. Her posture stiffens. Her head tilts, lips curling into a challenge I’ve seen before and never liked.
“Him,” she says.
“What?” I follow her gaze.
The broad-shouldered man with nice hands from last time, is lounging across a velvet couch, a glass balanced loosely in one large calloused hand.
“No,” I snap. “No repeats.”
“Then I don’t feed,” she says smoothly.
“Aura—”
She folds her arms. “Your rules, your choice. Him or no one.”
We stare each other down. She’s daring me to say no. Daring me to push her further. And fuck me, I want to. But I also know what will happen if she goes much longer without feeding.
Her cheeks have become even more sunken than they were outside.
I grind out a breath through my teeth. “Fine.”
