Chapter 107
Zade left and I stood holding a knife and stared at my reflection in the blade.
The closer I looked the clearer I saw the sadness in my eyes.
“No shit, you’re about to get us killed,” Trixy snidely remarked.
“If you want I’ll stop and we can just spend the rest of a probably very long life living as a punching bag and fuck puppet to the King from hell. Is that a better option for you?”
Trixy growled and met me in the front. She dragged her tail behind her and raised her head.
“I’m just worried that you’re putting your trust in Zade a little too easily,”
“Because he’s the only one who has offered his help and yes, I trust that he’ll see it through,” I lowered my voice to a more gentle tone because I knew that Trixy was just looking out for us.
I knew I’d made her angry when she didn’t respond. She walked back, deep into my mind where I couldn’t hear her but her anger streamed out in echoes through my mind.
Hours passed to both my dismay and delight, Darian still hadn’t returned. I was lying in the bed, dressed in a teddy that I found in the closet, he must’ve sent Nora out to buy it for me. I stared at the wall with the knife tucked under my pillow. Every five minutes I reached under to make sure it was still there and every time my fingers touched the cold metal I jerked my hand back and drew an unsteady breath.
Where is he? Why isn’t he back?
I hope he didn’t punish Nora for our night out, after all, it was I who had the rules about not leaving the palace, not her.
Maybe he wasn’t punishing her at all, maybe they were doing something else- maybe she was just doing her job.
I raked my fingers through my hair and cringed at the sweat that gathered on my nails.
It was unnerving, waiting here for him to show up to seduce him and then stab a knife into him.
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No amount of breathing or walking would relax me right now. The breaths were shallow and my palms were sweaty, my hands trembled every time I lifted them and I was hyper-aware of the knife under my pillow.
I’m doing it, once and for all, I’m putting an end to Darian Hayes.
After that thought landed like a godsend in my mind I heard his heavy footsteps walking closer in the hall.
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My heart stopped and I held my breath; I don’t know what for, maybe I was afraid that he’d hear how stressed I was.
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The door slowly opened with a squeak, the other one was off its hinges and leaned against the corner.
He walked slowly with his head down, his hair looked a mess and his shirt was half undone. He scanned the room and took in the mess I had cleaned up and the dimmed bedroom light lit up his front with a warm hue.
Darian stopped and stared at a flower by his feet. His back was stiff when he squatted to pick it up, he raised his chin and lifted his eyes. The humanity from earlier, that sliver of guilt and pain that I had held on to was wiped off. Completely gone.
The cold, elusive glare that I had gotten used to was slowly burrowing into my soul while he twirled the flower between his fingers.
*Your heart is racing. Are you afraid?” He stopped twirling the flower and opened his fingers to let it fall back on the floor. When he walked toward me the flower was crushed under his foot and he cocked his head as he searched my face.
Be strong, Hazel. Control your heartbeat.
1/3
Chapter 107
I gently lifted the comforter and put it aside, revealing the cherry red teddy I had on and the matching thong.
“I’m nervous,” I kept my voice soft and gently. Docile, I knew he liked it that way.
Darian’s eyes darkened, he bit down and his jaw clicked. He started undoing the rest of he buttons on his shirt while he walked over slowly to the bed. The steps were predatory, waiting and watching, terrifyingly calm and centered.
I stood on my knees on the bed and smiled.
When he was close enough to reach me he grabbed the side of my face and pushed my head back.
His lips brushed against mine and I smelled the liquor on his breath. His touch was rough but not painful and it was like he couldn’t decide the next move.
“Darian,” I touched his cheek and pressed my lips against his but they didn’t move, they parted and hovered but he didn’t kiss me back.
No matter how many times I kissed him, he wouldn’t return the affection.
“Why won’t you kiss me?”
Maybe he was tired after his moment with Nora. Perhaps he had done his kissing for the night.
There was no logical reason for the jealousy I felt when I thought about them together but it was there, in a bottomless pit in my gut.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
I leaned back and looked at him.
Darian flickered his eyes over the bed and his hand grabbed me harder, as though all of his weight was pushing him against me.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Something dark on the side of his face caught my attention and I narrowed my eyes.
There was a cut, it was quite large and it was opening back up.
“Why are you not healing?”
I grabbed his face and pushed him back an inch to see his eyes. The gods wouldn’t believe me unless they saw it themselves but sure as hell, there was a flicker of something light shining in his eyes. The humanity I saw earlier, it was back on the surface, albeit under a veil and it somehow made him beautiful.
The wound continued to bleed but Darian stepped back, closed his eyes, and coiled his fingers. He drew a breath so deep that his body grew even broader and the veins throbbed under his skin.
Something was happening but I didn’t know what so I couldn’t prepare. For a moment there it was like he was normal, human-ish, as human as we get but that was all slowly being sucked out with his breath like he was calling on something else.
When he opened his eyes, I wanted to run or hide or grab the knife and end it.
The humanity was gone once again, like a switch that he could turn on and off and now it was most certainly off.
“Darian-” my voice trembled but he was over in the blink of an eye and put his finger over my lips.
“What is this?” He slid his fingers down my chest.
It took me a second to find my voice and to ignore the sensation in my body and the way that it screamed for his touch. It didn’t know what it wanted, so I couldn’t blame it for acting like a fool. I lifted my head and mustered up the strength I had left.
“Whatever you want,” I purred.
2/3
The Alpha’s Hunt
