Blurb
The fire crackled in the hearth, shadows leaping across the stone walls. I sat stiffly on the edge of the leather couch, every nerve in my body screaming to run. He was behind me, I could feel it the weight of his presence pressed down like a storm about to break.
“Why are you so quiet?” Darren’s voice rolled low, a rumble that made the air vibrate.
“Because I don’t know what will get me killed,” I muttered, staring at my trembling hands.
He chuckled, the sound sharp, humorless. “You think too highly of yourself. If I wanted you dead, little rogue, you’d already be ash on that fire.”
I turned, meeting his eyes despite the terror clawing at my chest. “Then why keep me here? Why not finish it?”
His gaze darkened, and for a moment I thought he might. He moved closer, slow, deliberate, each step like the strike of a drum. When he stopped, towering above me, the room felt smaller, suffocating.
“Because you’re mine,” he said simply. No softness, no warmth just a fact, carved out of stone.
I flinched. “I never asked to be.”
He bent lower, his breath brushing my ear. “The moon doesn’t ask either. She commands. And so do I.”
His words settled into me like poison and honey at once, leaving me trembling with equal parts fury and need. I wanted to curse him, strike him, claw my way free but instead, I sat frozen, his shadow swallowing mine whole.
