Page 18 of Bite Marks & Broken Hearts

I looked pointedly at Sebastián, waiting for him to start talking. As if finally preparing to get down to business, he cleared his throat and began rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt. The fabricwas so perfectly pressed, each fold created sharp lines as he worked methodically up his arms.

My mouth went dry.

The movement revealed rather lovely tanned forearms corded with muscle. Thick veins traced paths beneath his skin, rising and falling over prominent tendons that flexed as his fingers worked each precise fold. A light dusting of dark hair highlighted the sculptural quality of his arms—like something carved from bronze, all clean lines and sharp angles.

Christ. What was in this tea?I forced my gaze away, though the image had already burned itself into my brain. The room abruptly felt far too hot.

“So,” Sebastián said, settling further into the armchair opposite me. He ran his hand down the length of his tie. “I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘What exactly is this strange establishment I find myself in?’”

Actually, I was fantasising about licking your forearms while simultaneously sort of still pondering if I’m going to die, but sure, let’s go with that.

“Sure.”

Sebastián leaned forward, resting his nice elbows on his knees. His white shirt pulled taut across his shoulders, and I forced myself to focus on his face. Which was also rather nice.

“You may have already guessed this, but what that man did to you… it wasn’t…” He paused, considering. “Natural.”

The cold sensation in my chest flared at the memory. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in whatever warmth remained. “Okay…”

“I suppose some people would say, it wassupernatural.”

I blinked at him, and he pinched his nose again, sighing.

“Kit is always so much better at this than I am.”

My brain stuttered over his words, trying to process them.Supernatural? Like… ghosts and shit?

A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat. “Right. Of course. Makes perfect sense. So what was he, then? The bogeyman?”

“A demon, actually. A lesser one. Often referred to as acambion.”

The matter-of-fact way he said it made me laugh harder. The sound echoed off the concrete walls, wild and unhinged even to my own ears.

“Oh, alesserdemon.” I mimed wiping fake tears from my eyes, just to be dramatic. “No need to panic, then. But sure, why not? And I suppose next you’ll tell me your blond friend upstairs is secretly a werewolf?”

Sebastián’s lips parted. “Well, we don’t use that terminology… but yes. How did you know?”

My laughter died instantly, leaving a hollow silence. The look in his dark eyes sent chills down my spine. Either this was an elaborate prank, or… “You can’t be serious.”

“I assure you, I am.”

The gravity of the statement hit me like a rogue wave—the kind that appears from nowhere and sends you sprawling, capsized in unknown waters, with no means to tell which way was up.

“Prove it.”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Sebastián’s eyebrows rose slightly, and something flickered across his face. Hesitation? Fear?

“Flynn.” His eyes held mine, utterly serious. “What did you feel when he touched you?”

The memory alone made my breath catch painfully in my throat. “Cold. Like… death cold. And everything went sort of… grey.” My fingers pressed against my sternum, phantom pain ghosting through my chest. “And the sensation keeps coming back.”

Sebastián’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.

“And… his eyes…” A tremor ran through my words. “They were wrong. They went completely black. But… I thought I was seeing things.”

“You weren’t. Did you see the way he scaled the wall? No human could have done that, Flynn, you know that.”

The room seemed to tilt, and I gripped the edge of the sofa to steady myself. “This is mental.”

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