Page 75 of Firethorne
And what use was a panic button if no one answered it?
I guessed he’d been lying about that part. It was a button that did nothing. I was wasting my time pounding on the thing and screaming for someone to come and get me.
Because they never did.
As the fifth day dawned, it felt like I was becoming psychotic, fearing I’d never see another soul again. Imagining terrible,awful things that might happen. Slipping away from this world into one that was a padded cell of a nightmare.
One I could never escape.
And so, when I heard the click of the door unlocking, I sprang from the corner of the room I’d been sitting in, huddled on the floor like a lunatic in my asylum, charging towards whoever would appear from behind that door. My hair was as wild as I was, like something from a Japanese horror movie that’d crawled out of the TV, but I didn’t care. Iwasferal. Ready to defend myself like a rabid creature.
I launched myself on the dark figure that entered, my teeth bared, ready to bite, fingers like claws to scratch, my body poised for attack.
Strong hands like steel closed around my wrists, holding me in place as I thrashed and hissed. A solid, male body clung to me, twisting me in their grasp and pushing me up against the wall, my back to their front as I huffed out a breath on impact and panted against the white plaster of the walls. I tried to break free, but they were stronger.
The hunter had caught his prey.
“There she is,” a familiar, deep voice whispered in my ear. “I knew you still had some fight left in you. But you need to calm the fuck down, Maya. It’s only me.”
I didn’t calm down.
I couldn’t.
Not when I was being restrained like this, my mind grappling for anything, any idea or ounce of power I could muster to break free of his hold.
“Breathe, Maya. Breathe with me.” He started to pant in time with me, bringing my breathing back to a normal level as he pressed his hard chest against my back. His hips pushed forward, his legs encasing mine as I closed my eyes, seeing stars dancing in front of me as my head began to swim.
“You’re gonna pass out if you don’t calm down,” Damien said, every inch of his body flush with mine.
And as the realisation filtered through my brain that it was Damien, he’d come back, my breathing slowed, but I couldn’t stop the tension running rampant through my body. I couldn’t halt the flow of adrenaline urging me to stay vigilant. My muscles were taut, ready, and as I struggled once again in his grasp, he moved against me, holding me closer, hissing, “Stop fucking fighting. I’m here now.”
“The button is a fucking lie,” I growled, my teeth clenched as my cheek grazed the wall. “I pressed it, and you didn’t answer. No one did. It was a fucking lie to keep me here, subdued for as long as you wanted under the pretence that I was safe. I’m a fucking fool.”
“I couldn’t be here,” he responded, not giving an inch as he held me tight. He wasn’t about to let me go any time soon.
“I’m done with playing your games,” I hissed.
“What fucking games?” His breath was warm against the shell of my ear, his body heat radiating into me, a reminder that he was in control.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked.
“Doing what? Saving you?”
“You’re not saving me. Kidnapping me and keeping me here isn’t saving me. I should’ve known...” I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out. “You’re no better than your father.”
Instantly, he pushed his face right next to mine and growled, “I’m nothing like my fucking father.”
“Then prove it,” I challenged.
“I already have.” I felt the pressure from his body that was pressed up against mine ease a little as he said, “Haven’t I made it clear yet? I’d do anything to help you, Maya. I’d fucking die to save you.”
We stood together in silence as the words he’d spoken settled in the air around us. My body flush against the wall and him. His hands on my wrists, his face so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin.
And then, as the seconds ticked by, I said, “You’ve done your job, now you need to let me go.” But as I said the words, the thought of being out in the world on my own, alone, just like the last few days, filled me with dread and fear. Did I really want that? To cut the strings that bound us together? To walk away and never see him again? After everything?
He didn’t reply right away, but when he whispered, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” I needed to know why.
“Why not?” I asked in a hushed tone.
