Touch: Book 1 of the Savage Bond Series

Chapter 20| Venom

His arm wrapped around my waist and I trembled as the frigid cold that accompanied him nestled itself into my frantically beating heart. With each forceful pump, I could feel my heart rate grow slower.

Hypothermia was setting in as the icy current that once ran warm flowed through me. A shuddering breath escaped my lips at last as he pulled me flush against his front.

"You know," he said as he dragged his nose up the path of my neck, inhaling my scent, "If you weren't so scared, it would feel good. The call is said to be quite...Intoxicating."

Still, I couldn't reply.

"So sweet," he whispered to himself as he splayed his hand over my abdomen possessively.

"Your suitcase is packed," he said taking stalk of the state of my bedroom, "Rather awfully might I add, where are you going?"

He didn't need to know where I was going, I wasn't going to put Linda in any danger. She knew nothing of this world, and if I have anything to say about it, she never will.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I knew the moment you left Shadowfang."

"So you're following me?" I asked incredulously.

"Where. Were. You. Going."

Shit. It wasn't a question, he knew I was stalling, and I could tell that his patience was wearing thin. I could hear it in his tone, feel it in the way his possessive grip tightened around my waist, locking me in place.

Think, Amina, think! I'd been praised in the past for being quick on my feet, but at present, my mind was racing to and fro, finding no plausible response.

"Little Rose. Don't tempt me."

I felt the warmth of his fangs glide along the base of my neck, leaving behind a moist path that made me shiver as cool air brushed against it.

"B-back to Sh-Shadowfang," I stuttered.
Slowly, he lowered his hand from my belly, "Tsk, tsk, tsk," he tutted as he played with the hem of my shirt.

"That's one."

"What?"

"Back to Shadowfang you say?"

I nodded.

He chuckled, and my eyes rolled to the back of my head in delight, what the hell?

"Two."

"Huh?" I asked deliriously.

"I find it hard to believe that Malachai would let you come here all alone."

You're absolutely right, his psychotic ass-although less so than the predator currently standing behind me-would never let me come here alone, and that's why escaped, but did Michael really need to know that? No.

"He trusts me." I sounded so confident, as if I knew this to be fact, so much so that even I almost believed myself. His hand slipped under my shirt and my flesh shuddered beneath his touch. What the hell was happening to me?

"Three."

"What are you counting?"

"You'll know soon enough," he said, dismissing my question, "Who were you talking to on your way up here?"

The ice that encased my heart thawed, giving way to erratic heartbeats that raged against the confines of my ribcage in an attempt to recover the heat I'd lost. Linda has nothing to do with this, ignorance is bliss, and for her sake, it would stay that way.

Why was it so important to know who I was speaking with? She was irrelevant unless-and then it dawned on me that he may have heard me ask her to stay at her place for a couple of days, which would mean that he knows I've been lying this entire time.