Adrenaline shoots straight to my heart. I grab the hair pin before jumping to my feet. Then I take a step back. He doesn’t follow. Instead, he stands there and watches me, his silver gaze gleaming with yearning. Is it pure lust, or is it something deeper? Something darker?
“Don’t touch me,” I say.
“When I catch you, I plan on doing more than that.”
“Not a fucking chance. You’ll have to force me.”
He stalks forward. “I’m happy to oblige.”
“X, wait!”
The voice, as familiar as my own, causes me to halt. I spin around to find Ben, his features hidden behind a mask with a black patch over the left eye. Xavier studies Ben while coming to stand in front of me, creating a barrier.
Is he trying to protect me from my foster brother?
“Ben,” I whisper, searching his gaze for tenderness, familiarity, something that’ll tell me the man I know and love is still there.
Xavier’s entire body goes rigid, his shoulders stiffening with ire right before my eyes. I peer around him to find Ben clenching his fists. Tension fills the air like a perfume spiced with contempt and violence.
“Delilah, you need to come with me,” Ben says. His tone is cold, but the urgency underneath prickles my skin. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“I don’t fucking think so.” Xavier’s voice cuts through the air. He reaches back and grabs my wrist, the warmth from his fingers seeping into my body as he pulls me to his side. “She’s mine.”
Ben’s eyes widen behind his mask. “Are you fucking serious, X? I asked you to watch over her, and now you think she’s yours?”
Xavier slides his hand from my wrist, along my arm, until he’s gripping the back of my neck in a show of possessiveness. His silence is a challenge, a refusal to yield. The dominance in his touch has my pulse racing quicker than when I was running at full speed.
Ben curses and reaches up to grip his mask, ripping it from his face. “Now that the Order knows about you, you’re in danger, Lilah. Come with me and I’ll keep you safe.”
“She’ll be safest with me,” Xavier says. He strokes the curve of my throat with his thumb. An awareness unfurls in my belly. I’m of half a mind to stab him just for that. “You know it’s true, Benjamin.”
“For the record, I don’t belong to either of you,” I say. I take a deep breath and gentle my voice. “Please let me go. Then I’ll be out of my contract and done with this bullshit.”
Both of them ignore me, their heated gazes locked on each other.
My foster brother extends his hand. “Come here, Delilah.”
Xavier squeezes my neck in warning. Instead of being pissed off, my body betrays me. I tell myself that my nipples hardened because of the cool night air. It can’t have anything to do with the man gripping me like I’m his actual bride.
When Ben takes a step toward us, Xavier lets out a growl and releases me, pushing me behind him. “I swear to fuck, if you come any closer, I’ll fight you for her. And we both know I’ll win.”
“Lilah,” Ben says, his expression pained, “please come here.”
“No.” My lips tremble, regret pricking my eyes with tears. “I can’t, Ben. I won’t let the Order control me. If you love me, let me go.”
Xavier angles his head to look back at me. “He does love you, little raptor. That’s the problem.”
“What?” My question is nothing more than a breeze, a whisper that hits Ben with the force of a hurricane. He averts his gaze, his mouth pinching. “Ben?”
“We can talk later,” he says. When he finally brings his eyes to mine, there’s a vulnerability in them that makes me want to weep. “Delilah, please.”
I take a step back. “I can’t do this.”
A whirlwind of emotion sweeps over me. The atmosphere is thick with unspoken words, hidden secrets, and danger. It coats my skin like fine mist, making me cold.
“I have to get out of here.”
Ben shouts my name as I turn and run, my hair pin clenched in my fist. Xavier responds with a taunt before the sounds of an altercation reach me. I grip my skirt and hike it up to free up my legs so I can run faster.
Once I can no longer hear the fighting behind me, the tears come.
They fall in a steady stream, blurring the trees around me. Roots and leaves crunch beneath my feet, the noise how I imagine my heart sounds as it breaks. I’m not even sure what I’m crying about, but the wind whips through my hair and carries my sobs away, slowly drying my cheeks.
The trees around me begin to thin in number and the canopy of leaves above me lessen, allowing moonlight to clearly light my path. Ahead is a clearing that could be the forest’s edge. The very thought of ending this nightmare has my steps quickening.
My breathing turns into wheezing that has me grimacing. My pulse hammers in my ears, each thump like a fist to my ribcage. I clutch my chest and pray I’m not having a heart attack.
Hope fills me the moment I realize I’ve almost reached the forest’s edge. A meadow stretches before me, offering safety from the darkness. The stars twinkle overhead, sparkling promises of freedom, making me smile.
Just as I’m about to burst through the final cluster of foliage, my sense of exhilaration fades.
Xavier stands there, arms folded, silver eyes narrowed on me.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t catch you?”
His deep, smooth voice has shivers dancing along my flesh. And warnings clanging in my head. I come to a hard stop, eyes wide and breaths ragged.
How can he be standing here when I left him behind with my foster brother?
I quickly scan the area, looking for him. “What did you do to Ben?”
My voice is shaky, fear coating it all over. Do I trust Xavier to tell me the truth? Do I even want to hear it?
“He’s fine.” Xavier waves a hand in dismissal. “Benjamin will be embarrassed when he wakes up because he got his ass handed to him, but that was inevitable. I’m not letting anyone get between us. Not even you.”
I squeeze my hair pin, finding little comfort in the bit of metal. Xavier has taken down two recruits in order to get to me. My chances of escaping him are laughable.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up.
“Come here, little raptor.”
Chapter 27DELILAH
Idon’t move. I’m not sure I can.
“It wasn’t a request,” he says, his tone firmer than before.
“I’m still not coming.”
“You will be.”
He rips off his mask. With fear clawing at my insides, I dart to the side, attempting to slip past him.
Xavier moves with a speed that defies the laws of nature, intercepting my path effortlessly. Before I can process his nearness, he’s yanking my body against his, the hair pin flying out of my hand.
I slam into him, my back to his front, the scent of him flooding my nose. It’s like a secret in the dark, mysterious and alluring with a hint of citrus and leather.
The warmth from his body seeps through the thin fabric of my dress, his strength evident with every corded muscle that presses into my soft curves. He brushes his lips over the shell of my ear, and I stiffen in his embrace, preventing my body from melting into his. The traitorous bitch.
“You can’t escape me, no matter where you run,” he murmurs. “The Order can’t have you. And neither can your foster brother. You’re mine.”
His voice is a seductive purr. With each word, his breath fans over the sensitive skin of my neck, causing tingles to shoot through my body. He drags his hand up my spine until his fingers tangle in my hair, pulling my head back to rest against his shoulder. When he stares down at me, his eyes burn into mine, stealing the air from my lungs.