Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
He stands there, his height eating up the small space as he stares me down. His chilling gaze seeps through my clothes and strikes my skin.
I look to either side of me, searching for an escape. He remains motionless, as if waiting for my next move.
The tunnel extends as far as my eyes can see. No ending in sight.
But maybe that’s the point.
My limbs are still shaking from the assault of the video, but I gather my strength, turn around, and run.
I don’t even make it two steps before my legs are grabbed. The ground shifts and I fall with a thud, my knee hitting the dirt floor so hard, I feel it in my bones.
A large weight lands on top of me, pushing me down and forcing every breath out of my lungs.
I squirm and buck against him. I don’t know what’s come over me or if I should even be fighting.
It’s a survival instinct. Innate and unconscious.
Deep down, I know I can’t beat someone this much larger than me, but that won’t stop me from trying.
A gloved hand wraps around my throat, lifting and twisting my face up until I’m looking at the gruesome mask.
“Red. Say it or submit.”
My eyes widen.
Kane.
It’s Kane’s voice.
6
DAHLIA
My heart stills and my fingers freeze as a tremor grips me.
I claw at the slick damp ground beneath me as Kane’s front covers my entire back, his weight oppressive, his body an unyielding slab of muscle, like being squashed by a wall.
A faint mixture of cedarwood and citrus lingers in the stale air and seeps into my flaring nostrils.
I should feel some form of relief that he finally showed up tonight, but I don’t.
Far from it.
My muscles lock and dread twists my insides.
A creepy tension squeezes my throat, and my breaths come in short, frantic gasps.
The air thickens and a gloomy cloud envelops him with a shroud of darkness.
This isn’t the Kane I thought I knew. His presence doesn’t soothe—it suffocates.
He’s not the Vipers’ agreeable captain or the ‘philanthropist’ who so generously offered to help me.
No. This is Kane Davenport. Vencor’s Senior member.
I’ve often found it hard to correlate Vencor’s destructive nature with his personality, but right now, I can see the shadows he came from.
His voice is different—deeper, lower, and entirely alien.
He turns my face at an angle, and the shadows flicker on his mask, dousing him with a menacing edge. His grip turns my body into a prisoner beneath him, a crushing hold that paralyzes more than my limbs.
“Kane?” I whisper, a slight tremble seeping in.
“Shh…” His gloved finger glides across my cheek, slow, deliberate, before tracing my lower lip. “Don’t say my name.”
Goosebumps spread like wildfire, my skin tightening under the icy graze of his touch. The truth slams into me.
He’s changed. Colder. Impersonal.
Terrifying.
The Kane I knew of never truly existed. Only this calm, calculated predator. His stillness is a façade, his serenity is laced with menace, wrapping around my throat.
The mask strips away his kindness, revealing the monster underneath.
“I warned you.” His words drop like stones into the dark, each one heavier than the last. Then, in a flash, he lifts off me, flipping me over so violently, my vision swims.
I yelp as my back hits the ground and he settles between my legs.
Our eyes meet beneath the shadowy light. His look is as dark as the night with a slight glimmer, an unfamiliar gaze.
His gloved finger strokes my face again, and although the motion is gentle, it feels as cold as ice. Then he slides his finger down, over my pulse point and to my collarbone.
Kane rips my shirt and bra open down the middle, and my breasts bounce free, my nipples instantly hardening at the chill.
I don’t have time to adjust as he drags my jeans down in one vicious movement. They stop at my knees, then he pulls them all the way off, throwing my sneakers aside in the process.
I lie beneath him in my ripped shirt and bra and plain black undies, my skin heating and a sense of humiliation rotting in my stomach.
The surprise slowly subsides, and rage gathers at the base of my stomach. I push at his chest and slam my legs shut. “What the hell are you doing?”
Kane isn’t fazed by my fight as he leisurely unbuckles his pants. The clink of the belt opening reverberates around me like a curse, and a shudder goes through me.
Because his impassive eyes remain on me, studying me like a predator.
Too bad for him, I’m no one’s prey.
I start to get up, but he presses me back on the ground.
Violet said I have the strongest survival instinct and an impressive sixth sense. I’ve always somehow known when danger is coming and that’s helped me escape it in time, and I really should’ve listened to those instincts before I stepped foot into the building.