Page 62 of Claimed In Darkness

I see the hesitation in him. That’s when I know.

He’s afraid.

Not me or himself.

So I do the cruelest thing I can.

I move back, slowly, deliberately, leaving him standing there, waiting for something I will not give him.

I turn. I walk away.

Now, since this nightmare began, I am the one leaving him wanting.

22

ZEPHIRAN

She walked away.

That should amuse me. Should even make me admire her, the way she turned with her head high, her back straight, leaving me standing in the doorway of my own damn room.

But this wasn’t supposed to happen.

I should have taken her. Should have broken the last of her resistance, dragged her to her knees and reminded her exactly who owns her, who made her, who turned her into this.

Instead, I let her slip through my fingers.

Again.

Now, I sit in my war room, my fingers pressing into the wood of the table, tension crawling over my skin in slow, methodical waves.

The heist is set.

The relic is within reach.

Everything I’ve planned, every move I’ve made, every piece I’ve maneuvered into place—it’s all coming together.

My mind is nowhere near the fucking plan.

Because I can still feel her breath on my throat, the slow, deliberate retreat of her body, the way she turned away and left me standing there, needy, wanting.

She is a distraction.

A dangerous, fucking deadly distraction.

I can’t afford this luxury.

Not when the High Council is watching my every move, waiting for me to slip, waiting for me to make a mistake they can use against me.

I exhale slowly, letting the tension settle in my bones before I lift my head.

"Status," I command, my voice cutting through the thick, candle-lit chamber.

Across the table, my second-in-command, Varik, leans forward, the dim glow catching against his silvered hair, his violet eyes sharp with interest.

"The vault has been secured," he murmurs. "Double the expected number of guards. And rumor is, the High Council’s personal enforcer has been sent to oversee its safety."

I suppress the flicker of irritation curling at the edges of my mind.

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