Page 41 of Undying Thirst

I gagged and pressed my hand to my mouth to stop the vomit from escaping. Hadhefound me? The Pale One?

Asher gripped under my elbows and hoisted me up to my unsteady feet, keeping me balanced. He caught my hands and pressed them to another chest. I gripped onto whoever he directed me toward. All I could see through my blurry sight was a wide chest, which meant it could be anyone.

Fear rode me hard, and I didn’t care who I held onto. I sniffled and dashed the back of my hand across my eyes. My cheek pressed against the hard chest, and I clasped my arms around his waist. It tapered too much for it to be Ren, andyet was too wide for it to be Tobias. Which left Jax. I blinked, clearing my vision to watch Asher swipe through his cell.

“Is Tobias with you?” Asher said. “He disappeared? Find him, we have an issue.” Asher paused to listen to the voice on the other end of his call.

Jax pressed his large palm into my lower back, then slid it around my waist. He pulled back so I was no longer plastered to his front. He prodded me up the rest of the stairs with me hobbling on one heel. The other pair likely fell within the rose bushes.

Although he didn’t stop me from gripping onto him, he didn’t help me keep my balance, so I clung onto him as he half dragged me.

He made a sound—a cross between a scoff and a sigh of exasperation—and lifted me into his arms. I swayed in his cradle until we reached Asher’s bedroom with dizzying speed.

He dumped me on the bed.

“Wait,” I gasped, bunching the bottom end of his shirt. My skirt tangled around my legs as I tried to get up.

He was going to leave me. I didn’t want to be alone for a second. My hands trembled.

“Don’t go.”

His sharp jawline bunched, but he gave me his back, easily sliding out of my grip. Panic bloomed into a ball in my stomach.

“I did it!” I shouted right as his large hand wrapped around the door knob. I repeated the admittance of guilt. The other three wouldn’t kill me, but this one . . . this one ached for my death. I untangled myself from the skirt and stood at the end of the bed oscillating my weight from foot to foot. He hadn’t left and that was what mattered.

He was suddenly in my face, hand wrapped around my throat. I choked on my next words.

“I know.” He leaned down so close his nose grazed mine. If it weren’t for his thumb digging into my trachea, it may have caused butterflies having him so close to me.

Even though he closed in to choke me, he wasn’t leaving and that was what I wanted.

I blinked up at him, silent.

The edges of his hair mussed at the top and his blue eyes, more of a blue lapis in color, and deeper than Asher’s, flashed with red before fading away.

I couldn’t erase the memory of the dead girl and how closely she resembled me. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Factor in ‘whore’ and then it was a given; someone targeted me. Someone other than the vampires currently holding me hostage.

I bunched my skirt in my fingers.

All I needed was to be held. Jax would never hold me, though. My second-best option was having him end this crippling fear nipping at my heels. But here we were, alone this time, after I told him I was guilty, and he still wouldn’t kill me. All he needed to do was squeeze a little harder. He was eerily still as if made of stone. He loomed over me intimidatingly, not moving a centimeter. As much as I struggled to breathe, I was still able to drag in a lungful.

Why wouldn’t they just kill me?

“You will not last here, pathetic human. Asher will grow bored of you.” He sneered and released me, straightening to his full height. He may as well have punched into my chest and taken my throbbing heart in hand.

He turned on his heel. Leaving again. He always turned his back to me. I understood I wouldn’t mean anything to him. His contempt didn’t surprise me, but I couldn’t help that it hurt.

My heart jumped into overdrive, the swelling balloon in my stomach preparing to pop.

“Not as pathetic as being hung up on some dead girl.”

Every muscle in his back tensed up.

I held my breath.

I’d crossed the line, but I couldn’t care. His quick move toward me caused my hair to flutter around my face then he dug his fingers into my throat.

I grabbed his wrists, holding onto them as I was pulled to my tip toes. I blinked up at him. If I was finally going to be snuffed out, I’d look him in the eyes the entire time.

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