AXEL

The Wait

Kit closed her eyes soaking in the warmth of the sun touching her skin. For one moment she could feel the wind weaving through her hair, red strands fluttering like flames behind her. Gone were the gloomy days and dark trunks, well for now anyway.

She glanced to Axel, his fingers wrapped around the steering wheel instead of her arm. His whole body tense, leather puckering around his knuckles from his tight grip and jaw clenched as he focused on the coastal road. The one bonus was the lack of cameras and lights guiding the way, meaning she could sit in the front.

London was the only place she knew, twenty-five years. Her burial was the only thing that pushed out of the city and into a surrounding town, to Axel. She inhaled the salty air, her bloodshot eyes following the sun glistening over the waves of the ocean. 

"I've never seen the ocean before," she blurted out in boredom, her gaze still on the horizon wondering what was beyond it.

Axel's brow furrowed, "You're not missing much. This side of the coast is full of jellyfish," he said fidgeting in the leather seat.

She rolled her eyes at him.

He loosened his tie with one hand and undid the top button. His blonde hair was starting to stick up, his once shaved head revealing his natural colour.

In this light, she thought the arrogant bastard was handsome.

He'd shed his many layers of clothing. His overcoat hung in the back of the car, cufflinks rolling around in the cup holder. Axel Monroe an unusual mess, the dry blood clumped in his eyebrow and stained his milky skin. From this angle, she noticed the slight bend on the bridge of his nose and the uneven curve at the side of his upper lip on the left. The pink scar hidden behind his ear and the hole in it where it once held a piercing.

"Did your mother not tell you that it's rude to stare," he snapped finally glancing in her direction. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel impatiently as he waited for her delayed response. 

No her mother only spoke to her when she needed something and it always came at a price for Kit. She wasn't built to care for a children, didn't possess a maternal bone in her body.

Kit snorted, "let me guess, you're a mummy's boy?" She fiddled with the chain of her cuff connecting with the door handle. The mention of her mother reminding her of the echoes of the gun, as if the crescent-shaped scars weren't enough.

"I never knew my mother," he said nonchalantly.

She stared at him, her mouth parted in shock as he revealed the first personal detail about himself. He wasn't a robot after all. "Are you a fucking orphan? Is that why you prefer the dead?" She asked leaning as close as she could to him.

Axel slammed the brakes. Kit jerked forwards in her seat nearly hitting her face into the dashboard, the handcuffs pulling her back to save her. He turned his body to face her and leant his elbow on the steering wheel, watching her regain herself.

"Are you done?" he snarled raising a brow. "I am not your friend."

Kit shrunk back in her seat, "you know I've heard the stories about you. The man with a cold touch, they say you don't have a mind," she said playing with the frayed yarn on the hem of her jumper.

A possessed man, only a man that's not his own could deal with cold bodies instead of warm ones.

"Why won't you just kill me?" she pleaded, cursing herself for the breaking vulnerable voice.

He rolled his clenched jaw, teeth grinding together as he absorbed her words. "Get it through your thick skull...I do not kill the living," he yelled smacking his palm against the dashboard in frustration.

She flinched, "you want to kill Henridge though," she spat back at him. He threw the same old phrase back in her face at every given moment like it made him a bloody saint. 

"I want him dead, a colleague of mine is going to do the job for us," he said twisting in his seat to start the engine again. He stretched his fingers out before wrapping them around the steering wheel, his leather gloves squeaking a little at the movement.

Kit remained quiet biting down on the tip of her tongue to stop herself from asking more, she didn't want to push her luck and end up in the trunk when the view outside was so vast. For the first time in a long while she felt calm watching the waves lap against the shoreline but she knew all too well that a storm was brewing. 

The rest of the journey was silent, Axel seemed to welcome it but it gnawed away at Kit. When left with her thoughts for too long she started to search for problems. Her eyes darted back and forth to Axel waiting for him to strike, the hairs on her arms stood up each time he scratched the stubble on his jaw.

Her thoughts were soon stolen away as the car turned down a dirt road. The ocean slowly disappeared behind the trees, the track becoming bumpy the deeper they travelled. The trees parted to reveal a black iron gate, the car stopping briefly for them to open.

"Where are we?" she asked gaping at the old army barracks in the centre of the fenced off land. A tank sat at the far right next to a warehouse and a watch tower.

Axel drove down the smooth tarmac and parked at the front of the main building. "Listen to me and do everything I say without any problems," he said flinging his seatbelt off quickly.

Kit's eyes stayed with him as he left the car and walked around to open her door. She stumbled out, her wrists still attached to the door handle and she fell to her knees with a groan.

She scoffed, "good luck with that."

His eyes narrowed at her and he crouched down in front of her. "I'm serious. The man in there is a predator and you little bird are his prey," he said patting her shoulder. "Don't talk to him even if he asks you a question. It's the first way he gets to know his victim and he'll figure you out in two answers."

"Since when do I answer any questions?" she shrugged off his warning, she didn't want to admit the chill sweeping through her body at the mention of this mysterious man. 

"If you catch his gaze never look away, he has to be the one to break eye contact," he said holding up two fingers.

"Okay..."

"And don't touch anything. You must stay beside me at all times, do I make myself clear?" he asked as he removed the cuffs from her wrists.

"Crystal," she said smiling down at her bare wrists and the feeling of a little freedom. "Who is this guy?"

Axel pulled her up from the ground, keeping his hand wrapped firmly around her arm. "Don't bite your lip, fidget or do any other bodily tic that shows you're nervous," he said looking out of the corner of his eye at Kit. 

She nodded, "be a statue like you," she mumbled.

"This isn't a game Kit. We're dealing with the devil, he's a skilled killer," he snapped yanking her arm to keep her close. She stumbled behind him, watching her boots kick up the dirt with her heavy steps of exhaustion.  

"A murderer?" she gulped, a shiver crawled up her spine as the word left her lips.

"Yes, one that plans and never misses his mark. You thought Henridge was a sadistic fuck wait until you meet Knox," he said casually throwing his name in for good measure.

Kit stopped in her tracks, dragging her heels in the mud. "We're going into Knox Stallen's lair?" she whispered, her voice trembling at the devil's name. "I thought he only killed women?"

Authors note: Are you excited to meet Knox once again? Will Kit be able to keep a hold of her wicked tongue? 😈 I'm actually really enjoying this book and thinking of doing a prequel for Kit her own little origin story. (I'll see how Axel goes first though). Thanks for reading!