Chapter 1 #3
“That’s it,” he murmurs. Then his free hand leaves me just long enough to pull a holophone from inside his coat and snap a photo.
That makes me jerk right back into the present. “What are you doing?”
Satisfaction flickers across his face. “I needed confirmation.”
Confirmation for what?
Before I can ask, his thumb hooks the cuff of my coat and shoves it back, exposing the warning amber line. For the first time since he cornered me, the amusement slips. “What do we have here?”
I try to wrench my arm away. “That’s none of your business.”
Ignoring me completely, he tightens his grip and turns my wrist. Then he presses his hips harder against mine and drags the tip of his nose along the pulse point of my wrist.
The warning pulse flashes amber against my skin as his mouth brushes my ear.
“Sure about that?” His grip flexes.
“Please,” I gasp, though I don’t even know what I’m asking for.
“Please what?” he whispers, his breath warm against my damp skin. “Please stop? Or please don’t let go?”
He leaves his thumb there, feeling my pulse hammer beneath the sensor. Then he lifts his head, his eyes dark and unreadable, watching me like he’s enjoying every second of it. “You should be more careful what you show people. A heart this loud is practically an invitation.”
“I didn’t...” I suck in a breath that catches halfway. “I didn’t show you anything,” I hiss, my voice shaking with rage and the heat I can’t suppress.
“You’re showing me everything right now.” His gaze drops to my throat, watching the way I swallow as if every reaction belongs to him.
Heat burns through me so fast it feels poisonous. My body is giving him answers I never agreed to speak, and he’s reading every one of them like they were always his to take.
I look into those dark eyes and get the horrible feeling that walking into Black Chapel was the biggest mistake I’ve made in years.
“Go back to Caervast. That’s where you need to be tonight.”
“How do you know that?”
His mouth twitches. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone you’ll remember.”
Everything inside me locks. I’m a stranger here. I have no name on this planet yet. And yet he knows. He knows my destination before I’ve even set foot inside the gates.
“If you’re not going to kill me... then why are you following me?”
He studies me for one beat too long, his gaze dropping to my mouth. Then he smiles. “Because I wanted a closer look.” He lets me go.
The loss of pressure is so abrupt my knees nearly buckle. I shove off the wall, stumbling as I yank my sleeve down over the glowing band.
My lungs are still dragging for air, my body still trembling. But as he turns and starts walking away, leaving me braced there and panting, I realize with a flash of sick disbelief that I’m breathing normally again.
The next inhale goes in clean and deep, and hatred flares hot under my ribs because it comes back to me in his voice.
Breathe.
“Stay away from me!” I yell after him.
He looks over his shoulder at me like I’m the only thing he came for. “Go to your registration,” he murmurs. “You and I will see each other again sooner than you think.”
The words hit like a slap. I wait until he disappears around the corner. Then I run.
I run the opposite direction, through the rain, my skin still burning where he touched me, hating him, hating that my body is already replaying the weight of him against me, the pressure of his thigh, the low command of his voice in my ear.
The gates of Caervast Academy emerge from the rain ahead of me. I make it through on shaking legs and head straight for reception.
“Rowan?”
I stop, breathing hard.
Damaris is half-jogging toward me. His eyes widen the second he sees me. “There you are. What the hell did you do? You’re soaked. Were you outside? I’ve been stalling the registrar for over an hour.”
“I’m sorry. I…” I look back toward the gate, toward nothing but mist. “I got lost.”
Damaris rolls his eyes. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Well, I checked both of us in, so you’re good to go. Some of the guys who’ll be in my course wanted to hang out for a bit.” His mouth twitches. “One of them, Adrian, seems determined to adopt me. Perhaps I should?”
“You should.” I manage a smile, but my eyes keep flicking back toward the gate, toward the memory of him. The dark stranger who still has my pulse racing, the ghost of his touch lingering beneath my sleeve.
I’ve never come out of an attack like that. Never.
“There’s a professor who wants to see you.
” Damaris clasps my shoulder, gesturing to the information pack on the table.
“Said he’ll be waiting by reception and that you need to hurry up.
Everything’s in there. Room 548. You can unlock the door with your holoscreen. And I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Go. Have a good time.”
Then I watch my best friend leave, hating the hesitation, hating that instinctive need to look out for me because of the medical crap I’ve dealt with since I was fourteen. He always has.
When he finally disappears down the corridor, I grab the information pack and slowly make my way to reception.
You’re safe. Safe.
And yet, I have never felt more hunted.