Page 51 of Taken By Shadows

There was hunger in them.

“And who might you be?” His words drawled as they languished over me. There was a perverse laziness in them as his eyes raked over my loose hair, tangled and chaotic, that made me itch to back away.

I think he was attempting flattery. But it came out all wrong; slick with oil and off colour.

“I …” Did I tell him the truth? Something in me went sour at the thought of telling him anything. But standing in someone’s home, bloodied and dishevelled, I supposed he deserved some explanation.

“I’m—” I tried extending my hand.

“Mine,” Kaed snarled, cutting me off. He snatched my arm before the male could accept my outstretched hand.

Indignation heated my skin, but whatever curse I thought Kaed deserved lodged in my throat as I felt the male’s eyes tilt towards me, devouring the scene before him.

“We’re leaving,” Kaed said again, and gripped my elbow, tugging me from the room, past Celeste’s son.

Chapter sixteen

Kaed matched my pace as we walked through the awakening streets. A few looks snagged on the bloody mess we were, but they dropped their eyes when Kaed flashed them his.

“What happened this morning wasn’t my fault.” I had stopped in the tree-lined streets.

He turned to collect me, his hand banding around my upper arm.

I tried to pull free. “Let go of me.” To my utter shock, he actually heeded me.

And then I looked around at the humans and fae alike that had gathered. As soon as Kaed lifted his head to them, they scattered.

“Why do they do that?” I allowed my eyes to dart back to the people who had now given us a wide berth.

Kaed shrugged with a grunt instead of offering anything intelligent. He had a scowl firmly placed on his brow.

“They’re afraid of you.” My summation whooshed out of me. Why wouldn’t they be afraid of him? He was tall, dark and terrifying in an obvious way. Even if you didn’t count that he had a menacing scar across his savage cheekbones.

“We’re not doing this now. Not here,” he said by way of answer.

“Why? Why not?”

His boots scuffed the dry flagstones underfoot as he halted. He raised his chin to the skies and then dipped it with solemnity. “Maybe they have good reason. Maybe they’re smarter than you appear to be right now. Maybe they know what is good for them. Maybe they know they should stay away from me.”

I shifted, my arms folding in front of me. I knew it was defensive and I didn’t care. “Is that what I should do? Stay away from you?” I stabbed my chin at him.

His eyes darkened until they were a tempest. “You.” He paused until I could feel the weight of his magic simmering just beneath the surface of his skin. “Don’t get that option.”

His hand stayed banded around my arm the entire way after that.

“Your prisoner again?” I said once he released me in the foyer.

“You were never not my prisoner.”

My arms barricaded over my chest again. Not even a whisper of pain, a tug of a scar from the injuries.

I hadn’t died, I finally realised.

I hadn’t died.

“So what happens now?” I pushed.

Kaed had been about to walk off, to leave me here. Maybe I should have said nothing.