Kayden leans forward, the smirk fading. That glint in his eyes hardens into something lethal.
"But you still haven't answered my question," he says. "You're dodging. Quite skillfully, I'll give you that." His gaze holds mine like a vice. "And I'm starting to wonder why."
I cross my arms, masking the spike of fear in my chest. It's probably useless. He can feel it, taste it in the air, like smoke before flame. Still, I try. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of watching me flinch.
I glance away from his eyes—those dark, devouring eyes—and focus on the fire instead. Just to ground myself. Beside it, a pile of wood. Logs. Splintered branches.
One catches my eye. Roughly broken. Jagged on one end. A makeshift stake.
Would it work? Doubtful.
But maybe, if it comes to it, I could take down one of them before they tear me apart. Better that than going out like prey, a cornered thing with no teeth.
My gaze snaps back to Kayden's, voice steady. "What do you want to know?"
His eyes flare, lip curling with impatience. "Oh, we're playing twenty questions now? Fantastic."
He starts walking toward me, slow, measured and graceful. Danger seared into every move.
A smile tugs at his lips, but it doesn't soothe. It taunts. His eyes burn with a cocktail of hunger, heat, and something wild and unhinged underneath.
"Let's start simple," he says, tone too smooth and sharp. "What the hell are you?" A step closer.
"What were you doing drainingmyblood?" Another step.
I match his pace in reverse, backing away toward the hearth. My spine tenses.
Asher's voice cuts through: "Kayden. Back off."
But he doesn't.
He prowls closer, closing the distance between us like the room is a hunting ground, and I'm a bleeding animal.
"And the question that's haunted me most of all…" His voice drops lower, laced with something sharp and cracked.
He steps so close, I feel him. The air tightens. His presence presses into me like a storm surge, suffocating and magnetic. I can smell him—dark and spicy, blood and rain and something primal beneath the surface.
Every nerve lights up. Every instinct screams.
Flightis impossible.
Sofight.
Something deep and ancient uncoils inside me. Not just fear. Not just survival.
"...Why the hell did you spare me back then?"
The words barely land before I move.
My hand snaps out, faster than he'd expect me to move.
The broken branch is in my grip before he registers it, and I drive it forward, fast and hard—straight toward his heart.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kayden
She moves fast. Not vampire-fast, but faster than she has any right to.
