Page 47 of Reaper Flame

“Go on. What are you waiting for?” I goaded. West’s pathetic attempt to scare me was almost comical. It took all of my self-restraint not to bite back a sassy remark about how this wasn’t exactly the Kate and Leo moment most girls dreamed of. “Fucking do it.”

West’s warm breath heated my skin. “What will it take to make you break?”

“Haven’t you heard?” I jerked my head in an up and back motion, making contact with West’s jaw. “I’m already broken.”

West staggered backwards, spitting blood from his mouth. Q would be mad about the red stains on his deck, but what option did I have? Not retaliate after being provoked? Instead of charging at me, West slowly clapped his hands together.

“See?” West said, smiling and continuing to applaud. “This is why you’re one of us.”

“A liar and manipulator like Zander?” I snarled. “I’m nothing like him!”

“Tell that to the congressmen you scammed,” West said. “Or how about the men you tricked into hotel rooms to meet a bloody end? You’re no better than him. Or how about how you turned a gun on a Seven? I assume you shot Red so Hiram wouldn’t?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I hissed.

“Did you really want to kill Red?”

“No, I—” My voice faltered, realizing he’d caught me in a trap and hating myself for being the cause of his smug fucking smirk.

“Tell me, Candy. How is what you did to Red any different to what Zander did to you?” he asked. “Everything we’ve done, no matter how fucked up, has been to protect each other. To protectyou. The Sevens aren’t afraid to make tough choices, which is why you had to squeeze the trigger and why Zander had to do what he did. We do what has to be done.”

“Nothinghadto be done!” I shouted, my voice carried away in the wind.

“Stop acting like an innocent fucking princess, because I know exactly who you are and what you’re capable of,” West said. His deep voice hinted of darker intentions. I recognized the tone from the night he bent me over the hood of Giles’s stolen car. “You’re a fucking Seven. Through and through. You can’t deny it forever. You know it. You can fucking feel it in your bones, and in the blood pulsing through your sweet veins. You’re part of us, whether you want to be or not.”

My cheeks flushed in anger. “Go to hell, West!”

I wanted to jump across the deck and unscrew his neck from his shoulders like a bottle cap because, deep down, I agreed with his point. Sometimes the hardest decisions to make were the only way, even if they came with a cost.

“Touched a nerve, have I?” West taunted, wiping his mouth and smearing blood over the back of his hand.

I sprung into action and hurtled towards him. I had no plan for what was about to happen next, but I raised my fist to make contact with his face. West caught it in his palm like a tennis ball.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” I spat.

“Maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re a Seven, and you fucking know it,” West said, gripping my hand so hard I was afraid my bones would break. I tried to headbutt him again, but he dropped his hold and backtracked. My movements were guided by raw emotion. They were clumsy and erratic, but West treated the unsteady floor like a karate dojo. He expertly deflected my attempts, then wrapped his arms around my torso. His arms crushed my ribs, leaving me gasping for air. “If I let you go, will you promise to stop fighting?”

“Never.”

He laughed, letting go and allowing me to catch a breath before grabbing my waist to pull me into his chest.

“Good,” he said. “Because I’ve fucking missed you.”

West’s mouth descended on mine, and my body reacted involuntarily. Instead of lashing out to get away, I responded hungrily, tasting his blood on my tongue. The metallic taste ignited a primal instinct in my core. I don’t know what I wanted to do more: kill him or fuck him. I caught his lip between my teeth, sucking his blood, as he groaned.

West knew how to draw the worst out of me, just like I knew how to bring the worst out of him. His giant hands lifted me up, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist.

“I’m not leaving you alone,” he growled possessively. “You’re coming with me.”

* * *

Somehow West managed to navigate his way down the dark staircase. I yelped as I thought we were about to fall, then he pressed his lips against mine to silence me, crushing my breasts against his hard pecs. He backed up, carrying me to my cabin.

Inside, he threw me on the bed and shut the door behind us. When he turned around, his hungry blue eyes sought me out in the darkness. He resembled a giant wolf, circling its prey before it got ready to dive in and rip out its throat. He licked his lips like he was thinking about how good his next meal would taste.

The tiny cabin window let in a sliver of moonlight as I slid up the bed. He may be eyeing me up like a fucking entree, but I wouldn’t make it easy for him. He wasn’t the only predator in the room.

West grinned. “So, you wanna play games?”

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