Not long enough.
It had been almost two weeks since they last saw each other. At the time, Cole chased him off, but Cole was gone, and she was all alone withhim.
But she didn’t need anyone to chase him off again. Her father was gone, Cole was gone, andshewould somehow get him to leave her alone.
How? She didn’t know, but she would find a way to get him out of her life.
Her shoulders went back. “I’ve been good, and you?”
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been so good. Would you like to know why?”
“No.”
Her surprise over the unexpected, blunt response was only exceeded by his. The smile slid from his face as his eyes glinted with malice.
“I’m sorry, Malakai, but I don’t have the time for this. If you’ll excuse me.”
She’d prefer not to go anywhere near him, but the way she always exited the barn was behind him. She could walk out through the paddock and climb the fence to get out, but she refused to back down from this man, or anyone else, anymore.
Keeping her shoulders back, she started toward the open door behind him. The sunlight streaming through it caught the specks of dust dancing through the air.
It was such a familiar sight that most of the time, she never noticed it. She focused on those particles now as they drew her toward freedom.
Her mind shouted at her to run, and her senses remained focused on the man behind her, but she kept her step steady as she approached the door.I will not run from this man. I will not run.
She was almost to the door when Malakai transported directly into her path. She almost walked into him, and his six-two frame blocked out the welcoming rays of the sun as he towered seven inches over her.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” he growled.
His smile was gone, and the malevolence shining in his eyes caused ice crystals to form in her blood. Those crystals crept across her skin until they encased her in a frozen tomb.
She would not back down from him, but she wasn’t sure she’d survive what he planned to do to her.
Chapter Four
“Please, get out of my way,”she replied in a steady voice that didn’t reveal her increasing alarm.
Malakai tilted his head to the side as red gleamed in his eyes. “Did you fuck him, Elexiandra?”
She barely stopped herself from gaping at the crude, unexpected question.
“Did he part those pretty thighs?” He prowled closer as he asked the question. “Did you let that half-breed rut between your legs like the dog he is?”
Despite her determination not to back down from him, she edged away from the hatred he emanated. As much as he wanted her, he also despised her and planned to make her pay for the years she spent refusing him. And he especially intended to make her suffer for choosing Cole over him.
What he would do to her should be done tonoliving creature.
“And like the dark fae he is, he grew tired of you and took his cock to his next whore,” Malakai continued.
The truth of those words stung like a slap to the face, but she hoped she kept that hidden from him.
“You’re disgusting,” Lexi said and planted her feet as she refused to take another step back. “Get off my property.”
“And how do you plan to make me?” he asked.
When he stopped before her, the toes of his boots touched the front of her sneakers. The five o’clock shadow lining his jaw matched the dark brown of his hair.
She contemplated knocking that shadow right off his face, but the look in his eyes froze her. She’d punched Cole’s brother, Orin, and he was one of the deadliest creatures in all the realms, but Malakai wasn’t Orin.
