“Saturday decides the rest.”
His hand wrapped around my throat again, tighter than before, dragging me across the floor as he lifted me just enough to cut off my air supply. My hands flew to his wrist, fingers digging in as my chest tightened, lungs straining against the pressure.
“Whether you live…”
The grip tightened.
“…or die.”
The words pressed in with the same weight as his hand. I gasped, but nothing came out, just a broken pull of air that never reached my lungs.
“And it won’t just be you.” His voice dropped lower, forcing me to focus on every word as my vision began to blur. “I’ll burn this place down.”
My body went rigid beneath him.The shop. Alto?—
“I’ll make sure he’s inside when it happens.”No!
My fingers clawed harder at his arm, nails scraping uselessly against skin that didn’t give.
“Then I’ll find his mate.” My eyes widened as his words came slower now, more deliberate. His breath brushed my ear as his voice softened, whispering to me like we were lovers. “After that… your little blonde friend is next.”
Lark.My body jerked before I could stop it.
His lips curved at the reaction, triumph filling his gaze. This was the reaction he wanted out of me. This was what he’d been waiting for.
“I’ll take my time,” he murmured softly, his lips brushing my ear. “Make sure her weak little vampire boyfriend watches as my guys beat him up.”
My hands curled tighter, nails digging into my palms now as I forced myself to stay still. Every instinct screamed at me to fight, to lash out, to do something, but I locked it down, forcing my body into stillness.
Eventually, the pressure on my throat eased just enough for me to drag in a shallow, ragged breath as his other hand rose into view.
His fingers flexed once, then the nails began to grow.
Slow, deliberate, they stretched into sharp, gleaming points. Each one tapered into something more blade-like than nail, the edges reflecting faintly as he turned his hand.
He exhaled softly, eyes closing for a brief second as if savoring the moment. Then one of those sharpened tips pressed lightly against my cheek.
I froze. Quick movements blurred in front of me, then pain sliced clean across my skin. I sucked in a broken breath as a warm, thick wet line trailed down the side of my cheek toward my jaw. A weak, pitiful sound escaped me.
His fingers loosened, releasing my throat, and I dropped hard against the floor, coughing as air rushed back into my lungs in uneven, painful pulls.
“After you watch all of that,” he stood over me, talking like this was a casual meet-up of friends, “thenI’ll kill you.”
He pulled a pocket square from his jacket, unfolding it with care before wiping the blood from his knife-like nails as they shrank back to regular size. The white fabric stained quickly, red spreading across it before flicking it in my face.
“Do you understand?” he asked, tilting his head as he looked down at me. “Or do I need to make it clearer?”
My hands trembled as I pushed myself up just enough to meet his gaze. My throat burned with every breath, each inhale dragging rough and uneven.
“No,” I rasped. “I understand.” I tried to swallow, forcing the words out despite the ache. “Help you win… or everything I care about gets destroyed.”
I lifted my chin just slightly, steadily holding his gaze even as my body betrayed me with small, uncontrollable tremors.
He watched me for a full sixty seconds before turning away without another word.
The shift was abrupt, final. His back to me, his attention already elsewhere as if the conversation had never mattered. The soft click of his loafers echoed across the concrete, each step measured, unhurried, stretching across the empty garage.
He reached the control panel and pressed the button. The roll-up door shuddered, then began to rise. Metal groaned against metal, inch by inch, the sound dragging through the space as my pulse mimicked it.
