Page 37 of Burn Like An Angel

“Or are you dumb enough to think Harrowdean will change?” I roll my eyes. “Perhaps they’ll listen to your demands? Or let you skip off into the sunset and rebuild your lives?”

The more I speak, the further their unease seems to spread. Even Mr Silent is glancing at our surroundings and shifting on his feet. My words have made an impact. Good.

“Do what you want. It makes no difference to me.” I draw my leg back to boot Rick in the ribs for good measure. “But think twice before throwing your weight behind this scum.”

Dismissing them with a terse nod, I continue on to the medical wing to regroup. I’ve scooped up my dropped flashlight and taken a few steps from Rick when I set sights on her.

My lungs twist and knot. Oxygen collects in my oesophagus, burning hotter than trapped lava. Resting against the wall, Ripley is watching the interaction from afar, safe and fucking sound.

Relief swims through me.

Sweet, blissful relief.

My blood doesn’t freeze solid in my veins like it used to at the sight of her. Those sad doe eyes and teeth-baring hisses used to be the equivalent of a cold plunge in liquid nitrogen. Enough to send my soul running for the hills to make way for my blood thirst.

Vulnerable. Lonely. Angry. Hate-filled. The most perplexing combination of something so delicate and breakable yet reinforced with a pain-forged strength. I longed to break the last of her resolve.

Just likeheonce broke mine.

But not now.

Now… I want to bathe in her strength and formidability. To wipe the horrors from her gaze and soothe the pain that others have inflicted. She’s mine to hurt. Mine to own. Mine to fucking cherish.

Standing on opposite ends of the corridor, we stare at each other. Two predators, sizing the other up, calculating the possibility of a quick kill. But… no, that isn’t right at all. It isn’t hatred I see burning in her eyes.

With long strides, I close the distance between us, halting with our noses mere inches apart. Her eyes are wide and glimmering through the dark bruises ringing them, fading from black to lightning-streaked purple.

“Where have you been?” My voice seeps with frustration.

“Why do you care, Xan?” she replies smoothly. “Worried I’ll make a rash decision?”

Rather than strangle her black-and-blue throat like I’m longing to do, I brace a hand either side of her head. Seeing her whole and unharmed allows me to draw my first full breath since she disappeared.

I’m sucked into her orbit. Tumbling through a bottomless wormhole into the unknown emptiness beyond my line of sight.If I’m not careful, I’ll lose myself along the way. Perhaps that would also be a relief.

“I didn’t begrudge your rash decision the night we slept together.”

“You restrained me and held a knife to my throat,” Ripley snarks.

“Yet my little toy still shivered at my touch and begged for more.”

I lean into her space, dragging the tip of my nose up her throat and neck. She shivers against me, a whispered moan daring to break free when I trace the tip of my tongue behind her left earlobe.

“In fact, I think you begged me to fuck you.” My lips follow her ear’s curvature, leaving a featherlight trail. “Tell me, do I have to beg you in return now?”

Her body arches against the wall, pressing her round curves into me. “Hmm. The great Xander Beck begging?”

Sucked into the bottomless, hazel pits peering up at me, I don’t bother to cushion the inevitable fall. I’ll crash land in the innermost parts of her being and happily break every bone in the process. As long as I can stay there.

Seeing her disappear into thin air reacquainted me with an old nemesis. Fear. And fuck if the idea of losing whatever we are now feels far scarier than the emotions she’s reigniting within me.

I lick my lips. “Yes. I’d beg for you.”

“Me?” She drags in a shaky breath.

“Your acceptance.” Blind hope forces me to keep going. “Maybe even your forgiveness.”

Searching my face for any hint of deception, Ripley’s brows crinkle. “You think I could ever forgive you?”

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