“Who said I wanted to murder you, Xariana?” he smiled, testing my name out on his tongue.
My nipples hardened, hearing it uttered huskily from his lips, and my thighs clenched as I struggled to push away my body’s response to the sadistic prick. Kieran’s dark gaze lowered to my mouth, sliding absently up to meet my eyes.
“It would be a waste to kill something like you. There are many other satisfying things to do to you, other than to end your pathetic life, hunter. I can get to you anywhere, at any time I want. Enzo took away my choice to kill you, but it won’t protect you from me—no one can save you, Xariana Anderson. I own this town now, not you. You just fucked up, little girl. Your friends can no longer help you; I won’t allow it. There isn’t a single creature inside this state that hasn’t hired me at one time or another and owes me their loyalty.”
“So what? You’re cutting me off?” I snorted, whimpering as his grip on mine tightened until my fingers ached from the pressure.
“Something like that,” he smiled, but it was calculated and had the hair on my nape rising. Glancing over at the other driver that had just exited his car, Kieran shouted, “Call everyone indebted to me, Ender. Declare Xariana Anderson on the do not help list. I want her exiled from everyone she’s counted on in the past. Not one person is to assist her, or I will call in the life debts owed to me.”
I didn’t look away from the haughty expression burning in his stare. I knew what a life debt was. He’d just cut me off from the otherworld altogether. If he called in that debt, he could order that person to murder their family, and they’d be spellbound to do so.
I swallowed the fear creeping up my throat, briefly closing my eyes before opening them to glare at him. I’d responded to Axton’s betrayal the way my father had taught me, but it had cost me any and all help to find my dad. Kieran’s grip eased, but he didn’t release me. Instead, he trailed his thumb over the pulse on my wrist and smiled roguishly when he found it racing.
“There’s a reason people don’t fuck with me, little one. I have collected debts since the moment I took control of the shadows, never chancing to lose a fight. You’re cute to think you’re on my level, but you’re not. Ask for my help, and I’ll find your father, Xariana.”
“Never,” I whispered in reply, hating that he was threatening me as my body heated from the simple touch of his fingers.
“Why not? The shadows see everything. I know who attacked your guild. Do you?”
“No,” I admitted, shaking my head slowly. “But I won’t ever ask a monster like you for a favor.”
His touch wasn’t innocent. I could feel him learning me, seeing if he made my pulse race. He was allowing his shadows to slither over every inch of me. It was erotic, yet terrifying at the same time. His heady scent was fucking me harder than I’d ever been fucked. A tremor rushed through me, and I licked my lips to speak, but his eyes dropped to my mouth, and a wicked spark lit his expression.
“We could make a deal, you and me, Xariana,” he encouraged, searching my face while I shivered at the sensation of his shadows.
“Never,” I whispered huskily, not immune to his power. How had I missed it? He had touched me, and that had allowed him to bypass the magic, working his shadows against me. “You don’t need money. And if that’s what you demanded, I couldn’t afford to pay you. You don’t require power, and I wouldn’t give you any even if I could.”
“There are other ways to pay for my services,” he offered, slowly tugging me closer. He pulled me against the bars, brushing his nose along my cheek. “I have identified your attacker and who is responsible for your father’s disappearance. You need me, and I want something from you, Xariana.”
“Let me guess. It will only cost my soul to get that information?” I gasped as he captured my bottom lip, nipping it painfully, forcing a moan to escape me. One of his hands slipped through the fence to slide around my neck, holding me in place.
“Your soul is worthless to me,” he murmured, releasing my lip to peer down at where he’d drawn blood. “Souls are messy and aren’t worth the trouble of dealing with or collecting.”
Lifting my gaze to his, I licked the wound he’d inflicted and stared at him. Kieran may not want my soul, but I had a feeling it would be shattered either way once he’d finished with me. His fingers slowly roved over my neck, sending pressure pulsing between my thighs. He knew how to fucking work someone over. I’d give him that.
“Then what would you want from me?” I asked, holding his midnight stare that sparkled with amusement.
“Come to me, willingly,” he urged, shifting his attention to something behind me. He lifted his hand, cradling my face while his thumb traced over my jaw. Every part of me was responding to him, and I prayed he couldn’t scent the arousal his touch conjured. “You know where I live, Xariana. Meet me at my home, and I will tell you my price. If you refuse me, I will let you walk away without hurting you, although you will still pay for what you did today. Like you, I have to respond to the slight against my investment. I can either be your darkest desire or your fucking nightmare. Which one I become depends on you and your response to my offer,” he murmured, pulling me closer. “Don’t make me into your enemy.”
He released me, stepping back and spinning on his heel without a backward glance. My attention shifted to Ender, and a cold, calculated smile stretched across his mouth before he turned, following his master to their vehicles.
Kieran paused at the lifted door of his outrageously expensive sports car, smiling. “Don’t make me wait too long for your decision. You won’t like your punishment if you keep me waiting. Goodnight, hunter. I look forward to sitting down with you to discuss our future.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kieran had gone, but he’d left a small force of men behind to guard me for the evening. Sitting at the bar with the sheriff, I peered down at the pictures he’d brought out for me to examine. He didn’t mention the incident at the gate, or that I had been street racing down the road. Jeffery hadn’t batted an eye at any of it, in fact.
“These were taken out by the old mill.” He pointed at a blurry image.
Looking at the photo, I squinted, then lifted it to the portrait on the wall. “When was this taken?”
My entire body still buzzed with the adrenaline coursing through it from my encounter with Kieran, who had left me whirling, and on uneven ground. He’d said he knew who had attacked us, which meant I’d be going to him one way or another. I intended to make him wait, though. I wasn’t jumping simply because he’d demanded I do so.
“Last night,” he snorted, sitting back to light a cigarette.
“Don’t light that in here,” I complained, watching him tap it on the counter. “We can sit outside. Pick your poison.”
He held up the cigarette, smiling sadly. “This is my poison. But I don’t suppose you’d have any scotch or bourbon on hand?”
“Both,” I grinned, pulling out a cigar from my pack, filled with Braelyn’s herbal remedy. He lifted a brow, and I shrugged. “It’s Washington and legal. It’s also not weed, old man. It’s a simple herbal concoction that soothes the monster within, taming it, per se. A friend grows the herbs, and we supply them to the werewolf population to ease their itches when the moon rises.”