His eyes darken behind the mask, and with the neon red, they’re downright terrifying. It’s like he’s taking his predator role way too seriously.
Or maybe it’s not a role for him. Maybe it’s his true self and whatever he shows the outside world is the actual role.
His voice echoes in the silence around us like a twisted melody. “Maybe you didn’t only get curious. Maybe you wanted the danger and to see for yourself what it means to be on that cloud of adrenaline. Maybe you just wanted to be hunted like an animal and then captured and ravaged in the most barbaric way. Is that what you wanted, little rabbit?”
I frantically shake my head, refusing to come to terms with the chills that cover my body or the tightening between my legs that’s been intensifying with each of his words.
“Are you telling me that if I rip your shorts and touch your cunt, I won’t find it soaking wet like when I came through your window last night?”
I freeze.
Wait…what?
Did he just say that last night he came through my window? As in, that nightmare was real?
He puts me to my feet and some pebbles crunch beneath my shoes as I sway a little, both from the shock of the realization and the loss of his warmth.
I swear to God this bastard is playing a mind trick on me.
He has to be.
Right?
He towers over me, the sight of his mask adding more to his downright horrifying existence. “Your little body was writhing beneath me, you all but tried to ride my hand, remember?”
“That’s not true,” I whisper more to myself than to him. “I didn’t.”
“You hate it, don’t you? How much you want what I have to offer, how you ache for that feeling of letting go as you’re ravaged whole. For a moment, you want to stop being a good girl and just let whatever lurks inside you loose, isn’t that right?”
“I don’t want you.” I shake my head over and over, stepping back. “I don’t. I refuse to. I won’t.”
“Look at you being adorable.” Both darkness and amusement laces his tone. “Didn’t I say your nervousness turns me on? Let’s add your denial, too.”
My gaze automatically goes to his trousers and I nearly choke at the sight of the tent that’s bulging against the material. “Don’t, Killian.”
“Mmm. I really do love the sound of my name in your sweet little voice.”
I keep stepping back, but he matches my strides with nonchalant ones. “Would you stop if I begged you?”
“No.”
“If I scream?”
“I’ll just muffle it.”
“If I hit you?”
“It’ll just piss me off and my actions will turn drastic. Highly not recommended.”
My shoes hit a rock and I yelp as I trip, but he grabs my elbow, keeping me upright.
“Stop acting like you don’t want it, Glyn. All the dramatics are starting to get on my last nerve.”
“Please,” I whisper.
“Begging holds the importance of a fly to me.”
“Then what is important to you?”
“Right now? You and your virgin cunt.”
I want to scream, both from frustration and anger, at my reaction to his words. How can I want someone I hate? Someone who, without any sliver of doubt, fucking scares me?
And deep down, I know he just won’t stop until he takes my virginity. It’s a conquest, and he’s a true predator.
One with no limits.
Taking a deep breath, I choose another approach. “What if I told you that I need more time?”
“Hmm.” His finger taps on the side of my elbow. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing? You’re stalling so you can get more time to find a solution to get rid of me, but I’m telling you right now, it’s not going to work.”
“I just…want more time, please.”
His eyes flash with annoyance, probably too used to getting what he wants only to be told no, and I’m almost sure he’ll bend me over and fuck me anyway, but he releases my elbow. “Since you asked nicely, fine.”
“Really?”
“Do you want me to change my mind?”
“No.” I smile. “Thanks.”
“See? I can be nice.”
I snort, then puff out a breath and whisper, “Nice, my arse.”
“I heard that.”
I grin in an attempt to shoo the situation away. “Why do you do all of this?”
“All of this?”
“Being part of the Heathens, hunting down people. All of this.”
“Why are you asking?”
Despite my attempts for it not to, my body relaxes. “You keep pursuing me, but I know nothing about you aside from your being in the Heathens and a med student.”
A gleam of light flashes in his eyes. “Have you been asking about me, baby?”
“Didn’t have to. Annika doesn’t stop talking once she has a topic of discussion.”
“But you listened.” His gloating tone pisses me off.
“So?”
“I thought you weren’t interested.”
I’m obviously drawn to him in ways I can’t understand, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I admit that.
“Or maybe you’re just not interested in admitting it out loud.” His stance turns nonchalant as he seems to enjoy himself.
“Are you going to answer my question?”
“Concerning?”
“Aren’t med students supposed to protect their hands? Yet you fight and hunt and do all types of fuckeries that could get you hurt.”
He lifts his hands and studies them under the gloomy light as if it’s the first time he’s seen them. “The world is painted in different colors, depending on the angle you see it from. Every single ideal can be turned monstrous when it’s pushed to the limits. I’m the limits. I’m the edges humans are warned to stay away from but are attracted to anyway, because it’s just so different from what they know. And because I’m permanently on the edge, I need constant stimuli to remain functioning. Fighting, hunting, and being a doctor-in-the-making are those stimuli.”
So that’s his obsession. His way of driving away the emptiness is through unconventional methods. I understand why he has to do this, though I don’t agree with it.
His view of the world is fascinating, and if I didn’t want to escape him, I could listen to him talk about it all day.
“Why medicine, then? Its codes imply that you should save people.”
“And I do, after I see inside them.” His lips curve in a cruel smirk. “Look at your face becoming all horrified. Do I scare you, baby?”
“No.” I lift my chin. “I’m a King. We aren’t born to be scared of people.”
“Hmm. I like the whole family slogan thing. Are you close with them? Your family, I mean?”
“So what if I am?”
“Do they know you were thinking about throwing yourself off that cliff?”