Page 53

“Yes.”

Proud.

Certain.

“The girl behind the counter,” she said. “Powerless. Weak. Completely useless to a city like this.”

I watched her for a moment. Then I smiled.

“That girl,” I said softly, “is my mate.”

Everything in her face collapsed.

Shock. Horror. Then, finally, understanding.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“If I had known—”

“I know,” I said.

That was the problem. She stepped backward. Then another step.

“You made your stance very clear,” I continued calmly. “Cull the weak. Remove the useless. Strength above all.”

Her heel hit the curb. She stopped. Hands lifting slightly. “You’re misunderstanding—”

“No.”

I wasn’t.

That was when I let the nightmares slip into her mind. They slid in quietly. The mind invented horrors very efficiently when given permission. Her pupils widened and she blinked.

Looked again.

Empty street.

Her breathing quickened.

“What are you doing?” she asked, voice tightening.

The compulsion dug deeper. A flicker of blood across the pavement.

“Stop that,” she snapped.

I tilted my head slightly.

“Why?”

Her gaze darted again, catching on shapes that didn’t exist.

“You made a mistake,” I told her quietly.

Then I broke her neck.

Her body collapsed before the scream fully formed. The street went silent. A window cracked open somewhere down the block.

Good.