Chapter Ten
Valen
I’d been awake since five a.m. staring at the ceiling. All I wanted was to forget the taste of her skin. The way her body had melted against mine. The soft sounds she’d made when my mouth had found her throat that had threatened to destroy the little control I had left.
This woman was going to be the death of me.
Last night she’d admitted she felt safe with me. The thought was insane. I was supposed to be the person she feared. All I’d thought about the last six years was how to destroy her and kill Cyrus. And now, the thought of anything bad happening to her made anger surge through me.
When she’d first got here, I could tell she was haunted.
Not only because of the nightmares that plagued her every night, although last night was the first time I hadn’t woken to her screaming.
There had been a sadness to her that did something to my dark and twisted soul.
And don’t get me started on her suicide mission to kill Cyrus. It was a death wish, and she knew it.
But these last few days, I’d seen her smile, and I’d been the cause of it. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about that. I shouldn’t be the cause of her happiness.
Should I?
I knew I shouldn’t have kissed her. Shouldn’t have given into that fucking dare, no matter what names she called me. But the second she called me a coward with a defiant little tilt of her chin, something inside me had snapped.
Now I was going to pay for it. Because I didn’t think I would be able to control myself if she kept provoking me. The need to taste her, to tease her, to hear my name on her lips was too much.
The smell of coffee drifted from down the hallway, and I knew she was awake. A part of me wanted to stay in my room or run to work in my shed. Put some distance between us before we both lost track of our objective: killing Cyrus.
But the other part of me, the one that had been obsessing over her for years, needed to see her.
I found her in the kitchen a little bit later wearing one of my flannel shirts.
She rose up on her tiptoes to reach for a cup, the shirt riding up and revealing black lacy panties.
My hands clenched into fists at my sides.
She was trying to bait me, just like last night.
Even though the rational part of me knew most of her clothes were still in her car and she probably wasn’t doing it on purpose.
Her hair was messy from sleep, and all I could think was how fucking beautiful she was. Fuck, she could probably wear a potato sack and I’d find her stunning. She hummed softly as she moved around my kitchen like she belonged there.
The thought hit me like a blow to the chest, and I exhaled sharply.
“Morning,” she murmured without turning around. “Coffee will be ready in a sec.”
I’d been worried that things would be awkward. That after last night and my dirty confession she’d be afraid of me. But she just stood there humming like she didn’t have a care in the world, like last night hadn’t happened.
Good.
“You’re up early.” She turned to face me, a smirk on her face like she knew I’d been up all night thinking about her.
I chuckled darkly, running my thumb over my bottom lip. “So are you, little lamb.”
She shrugged, my shirt slipping slightly, exposing her shoulder. I fought the urge to bite her there.
“Couldn’t sleep.” Her cheeks flushed. “Kept thinking about…”
“About what?” I stepped closer. Her eyes widened.
“Nothing, just… work.” She turned her back to me and poured two cups of coffee, her hands trembling slightly.
Her nervous energy filled the room, and I moved closer.
Not touching her, but close enough that she’d feel the heat rolling off me.
“You’re a terrible liar, Seraphine.” Did she think she could pretend to be unaffected by me, tease me then act innocent?
The thought made something dark unfurl in my chest. “What were you really thinking about?”
Her breath caught, but she didn’t turn to face me.
“Were you thinking about me?” I leaned down, my lips brushing her ear.
Her cup rattled as she set it down, her thighs rubbing together. I placed my hands on the counter, caging her in from behind. “Were you thinking about how you were grinding on me? Or how my lips felt on your neck?”
What the fuck was I doing? This wasn’t what I’d intended to do when I’d walked in here. Coffee. Shed. Work. Sleep. None of that involved pinning her against the counter, begging for her to admit she’d been thinking about me the way I’d been thinking about her.
She spun around to face me, a fire in her eyes. “Actually, no. I forgot about it. That’s how unimpressive it was.” She patted my chest. “It’s your turn to make breakfast, teddy bear.”
There it was. That bratty defiance that had gotten us into trouble last night. “Careful, little lamb, or my handprints will be decorating that pretty little ass of yours.”
Her pupils dilated as she processed my words. I didn’t miss the way her tongue darted out, moistening her bottom lip, either.
“What, you’re going to spank me if I misbehave?” She arched her brow, but there was a slight quiver of desire in her voice. “I’d like to see you try.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped the counter so hard, I was surprised the wood didn’t break off. She was fucking with me. Seeing how far she could push me before I did something we would both regret.
But I couldn’t let her. So I pushed back from the counter, giving us both space to breathe. “Don’t push it, little lamb.” The coffee cup burned my hand as I picked it up, but I didn’t care. “Where the hell are your pants, anyway?”
“About that. I need to go to my car.” She said it like it had already been decided.
“Absolutely not.” I shook my head. “There’s five feet of snow, the terrain is unstable, and your car is sitting on the edge of a frozen lake. That’s three different ways we could die.”
She placed her hands on her hips, glaring at me. “I need my bracelet. And I have a shotgun and extra ammo. Things we could actually use.”
“We have everything we need right here.” I kept my voice level, letting her know that the conversation was over.
But of course, she ignored the command in my tone.
“You don’t understand.” Her body tensed, but there was still that fire in her eyes.
“I understand that you’re not dying for a piece of jewelry.”
“Fine, I’ll go by myself,” she scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking my pose.
Every muscle in my body went rigid. The thought of her out there alone, vulnerable to the elements, or, worse, some type of predator, made something violent inside of me stir. “Like hell you will.” I towered over her, doing my best not to reach out and shake some sense into her.
“Watch. Me.” She said the words slowly, and I knew this was a breaking point for us. I was going to have to either chain her to my bed and make her hate me or let her go.
Then a thought occurred to me, and I dragged my fingers through my hair. “Fuck. I forgot about the cache.”
“What cache?” There was hope in her voice, like she knew she was about to win this round.
“I keep emergency supplies in a few different locations. Main stock is here at the cabin, but I buried a backup cache near the shoreline in case I ever need to get out fast.” My jaw clenched as I weighed our options.
That one had extra generator fuel, ammunition, and an emergency radio.
The power’s been unreliable, and I’d been pushing the generator to its max.
If it had just been me, the fuel would have lasted another few weeks, but I’d wanted to keep her comfortable.
If there was another storm and the power went out, we’d be fucked. “We need the fuel.”
“So we’ll go together.” She smiled, the joy on her face making me want to agree to whatever ridiculous things she demanded.
I nodded, running through the things we would need. “We’ll rope up. Stay connected at all times. But the first sign of trouble, and we bail.”
“That’s the spirit.” She patted my shoulder as she passed me. “Let’s suit up, partner.”
I grumbled as I followed behind her like a puppy, wanting to kick myself for giving in so easily.
Twenty minutes later we stood at the edge of my property. I checked the rope tied around her waist for the third time and ensured the rope around mine was equally tight. Fifteen feet of cord was going to be the difference between life and death if things went sideways.
“Stay behind me. Only step where I step.” I tugged on the rope, bringing her closer to me. “If something happens to me, you cut the rope and come back here. Don’t be a fucking hero.” I took out my carving knife and tucked it into her jacket.
“Nothing’s going to happen, Valen.” She didn’t sound as confident as she was trying to appear, but I let it slide.
We took off down the slope. I used my weight to compact the snow for her, since she was much smaller than me. Luckily, I’d taken this path many times before and knew exactly where to step and which spots to avoid. Every step was calculated, and I monitored the snow for any shift.
I glanced over my shoulder, watching her as she followed behind me. Some of the snowdrifts went up to her thigh, and I clenched my jaw. I should have gone alone, left her inside where it was safe. But something told me she wouldn’t have agreed to that.
The rope pulled as she stumbled, and I reached back to steady her. “Careful.” I tried to keep my voice controlled, to not show her the underlying fear that was pulsing within me. Not fear for my safety, but for hers. “The slope gets steeper here, but then we’ll be all clear.”
After a few minutes, the lake stretched out in front of us. It was deceptively peaceful, but I knew the dangers that lurked out there. Her car was about ten feet from shore, nestled out on the ice like a tombstone.
I grabbed a long stick and tapped it on the ice, testing for any sounds of weakness. “Ice looks solid, but we need to move fast.”