Kissing Danger ✔️

TWENTY EIGHT

Word Count: 1623

~Aven

I almost make it back to the room. Almost.

Turning the corner, I jump as someone emerges from the shadows, pausing in front of me.

"Woah..." I mutter, backing up a few steps in front.

Shock and fear strike me as I realise it's Larsen I'm looking at, his hood now removed, showing off his head of thick black hair, but his eyes are still the same, hauntingly dark as they examine me quietly. There's something about Larsen that terrifies me. Not only is his touch deadly, but the way he looks at me with those green eyes makes me feel as though he is stripping my bare, revealing my innermost insecurities to him.

"How many Noble's am I going to run into tonight?" I exhale, running a hand down my face frustratingly. I should never have left without Stace, who is dead asleep in the room. He's going to kill me if he finds out I left, with Eryk cheering him on.

He looks over my shoulder. "I think I'll be your last..."

I open my mouth to make a joke before easing my way from the conversation to return back to my room, however I'm stopped short as Larsen slowly tugs at his gloves, pulling them off.

I stare down at his hands, terrified. They are perfectly untouched and normal looking, and yet seeing his bare skin only means one thing, the reality of that sinking deep into my stomach.

"You should probably keep your gloves on," I murmur distractingly, looking down at him as he flexes his fingers, examining them quietly. Would it be much use for me to run? He's blocking my way to Stace, and Kastriv could be anywhere in the manor by now. That means I'm left to face this powerful Noble by myself, who looks ready to lay his bare hand on me.

A smile touches his lips, so soft that in any other situation I would consider it to be a kind gesture. "No, because that would defeat the purpose."

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" I whisper.

"Your father wasn't a good man, Aven," he explains darkly, his voice dropping a few tones deeper as he approaches with purposeful strides, which I match backward with terror. "And anyone related to a monster like that deserves to die."

"I've never even met my father," I scramble, moving backward until my back touches the wall. "You can't do this."

He doesn't look convinced, continuing his approach. My eyes glance down to his hands, witnessing the sight of his veins tinted black, the darkness creeping up his exposed forearm to his hands and to his fingers, costing them in shadows. I can practically see the poison ebbing within him, a part of him. How that's possible, I'm not even going to begin questioning it since I'm mated to a man with tattoos that move with the surge of his power.

Before I open my mouth to scream, Stace appears from behind Larsen, grabbing the man's clothed shoulder to turn him to face him.

"Larsen, don't touch her," Stace warns, pushing Larsen back in a way that has the Noble stumbling back a few steps. There's no evidence of sleep on Stace's eyes as he looks over us both, examining the situation that nearly transpired, although his hair is as mussed and frantic as he looks right now.

"You can't protect her, Stace...Not unless you're as evil as him." Larsen adjusts himself, looking back at me with his hands still exposed.

"Aven is completely innocent of everything he has done, do you understand?" Stace growls. A single glance down at his tattoos makes me painfully aware of the power within my mate that threatens to spill out, directed at Larsen.