Page 33 of Lady Killer

“Nope.”

“You need to untie me,” I fumed as I watched Nixon warily. He wore a look of triumph, and though I wasn’t sure what contest I’d just lost, I loathed losing just the same.

Alister released his grip on me, and I spun around to thrust my sore arms toward him. My body was vibrating with a riot of emotions—rage, disappointment, need, and other unsettlingly things. It was too much, and I retreated into survival mode.

He expertly undid the belt but held my hands behind my back, tracing his fingers over my wrists. The leather had cut into my flesh where I’d yanked against it, and he gently massaged my tender skin.

“Keep fighting me, petite diablesse. It only makes delivering your punishments all that much sweeter.”

Chapter eleven

Luz

Running in the winter was an entirely different sort of beast.

It hurt to breathe. This had to be wrong.

The skin on my legs felt only pins and needles, otherwise numb under my flimsy leggings, and my Hollow Oak hoodie had first grown damp with sweat and was now a cold weight that dragged me down with every step.

It’d been a couple days since I went to the twins’ home, and I hadn’t seen them since. I hadn’t seen Everesteither, but the constant texts I received proved that he was always watching.

CrazilyEverAfter: You look beautiful, Starbright.

CrazilyEverAfter: Alister says you need a warmer coat.

CrazilyEverAfter: Also, how do you feel about knives?

CrazilyEverAfter: You know, sharp, pointy? Good for stabbing??

CrazilyEverAfter: NVMD on it (thumbs up emoji)

What was I supposed to do with that? I didn’t know what was more overwhelming, his insanity or his obsession. Could there even be one without the other?

Still, the memory of how they had all reacted to me sharing the information about the sheep stung.

Then there was the fact that the Blackwells were killers. All of them.

Was it hypocritical of me to judge them, given what I did to Aaron?

Maybe.

But I killed monsters.

Alister and Everest killed . . . I didn’t know who or why, beyond the Blackwells’ reputation as the “assassins of the elite.”

Could I judge them? Could I trust them?

As I crossed over from the campus to the forest, a sense of calm came over me.

Killing Aaron didn’t just end the life of a pathetic rapist, it helped me reclaim my power over him.

Once, he hunted me here. But I was the one to end him.

I think I won.

Humming, I carefully made my way down the right trail, back to my favorite spot.

Thanks to Alister and Everest’s help that night, the police were none the wiser about the real kill site.

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