Page 134 of Crave

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I glanced to Gabe as agony ripped across my chest. It could’ve been him—Dear God, it could’ve been him.

“There was a note,” Silas continued, his tone guttural and strained. “One stabbed into the middle of his chest.”

“What note?” Theo muttered.

Silas’ gaze found me. “They’re coming…and they want her.”

The entire room stilled. My breath caught. My brain misfired…her? Who? Then it hit me. Me.

Something cold and sick curled in my stomach.

“You already know,” he took a step toward me. “Don’t you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t?—”

“Liar.”

The word cracked across the room, hitting me like a slap. Jude’s dark, cutting gaze settled on me, crawling under my skin.

Use it on me.

Jude’s words still lingered in my head as Silas stalked toward me, like a wounded animal still looking for something to tear apart.

“Youalwaysfucking lie,” he said quieter now, lower, rougher. His hand shot out as I dragged my fingers through my hair, grabbing my wrist.

Too tight.

Too desperate.

My breath hitched.

The blood on his fingers smudged on my skin.

Warm. Sticky. Real.

“You’re been keeping things from us,” he murmured. “And I’mdoneplaying fucking games with you. I want to know whatitis.”

The air thickened.

His fingers tightened.

And in that moment, I felt the ache in him.

The hunger.

Not just for answers.

For me.

And it was killing him.

I didn’t pull away. I should have. But I didn’t. Because he was slipping. The mask was cracking. His breath came in short, uneven bursts against my skin. And then?—

His body gave out.

It happenedfast.

One second, he was looming over me, shaking with a rage that barely held itself together. The next?—

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