Door's Closed, Princess

Lilith's POV

My lips are still tingling from his thumb. It feels like a taste. As though I'm something to be sampled.

And now I'm waiting for his heart to stop.

“ Please, please, please let it work” I pray silently, my lips pressed tightly, eyes desperately scanning him for even the tiniest expression.

But Malakai doesn't fall.

His grip on my jaw tightens instead, it is bone crushing and relentless. I gasp, my fingers flying up to claw at his wrist but he doesn't even flinch. His breathing hitches, then turns into something else. A heavy, wet rattle that sounds like drowning.

Oh no.

"Lilith..." His voice is a low, dangerous rasp. I feel it vibrate through his palm and into my skull. "What. Did. You. Fucking. Do?"

My heart is hammering against my ribs so hard I think they might crack. "It... it was supposed to make you sleep." I can barely get the words out. His grip is stealing my air. "Sloane said…."

"Sloane lied, you pampered little bitch."

Roman's voice cuts through the room like a blade. I turn my head toward him,he's stalking toward the bed, his fingers already ripping at his tie. His hands are trembling so hard he nearly tears the silk.

"She didn't give you a sedative, you idiot." His voice cracks. He's never sounded like this before. Always so composed, so calm. But now he looks like a man about to shatter. "She gave you a fucking Frenzy Spark."

“Frenzy Spark” I repeat.

The words don't make sense. They can't make sense.

"What…" I try to shake my head but Malakai's fingers dig deeper into my jaw, forcing me to look at him.

And that's when I see it.

His skin is changing. Flushing a deep, angry red that starts at his neck and crawls upward like fire consuming dry grass. His eyes…those cold, controlled gray eyes…are darkening. The pupils swallowing everything until there's almost nothing left but black.

"Lilith," Malakai breathes, and his breath is hot. Too hot. Like he's burning from the inside out. "Do you understand what you've done?"

I don't.

But I'm starting to.

The air in the room shifts. It becomes heavy…suffocating. I smell something sharp. Ozone, like before a lightning strike. And underneath that, something musky, it terrifies me.

I try to scramble off the bed, away from him, away from all of them. But the sheer silk of this ridiculous wedding lingerie catches on his cufflink. The fabric tugs, and I'm yanked back down, pinned against him.

"No…." I gasp.

Vane is by the window. I didn't even see him move. His chest is heaving, his fists clenched at his sides. His eyes are fixed on my mouth.

He looks like he wants to devour me.

"You need to leave," Vane says, but he's not talking to me. He's talking to his brothers. His voice is strained, barely human. "One of us needs to leave."

"None of us are leaving," Roman whispers. His tie is gone now, hanging loose from his collar. His eyes are dark. Dilated. "The catalyst is already in our blood. The proximity is making it worse."

Catalyst. Frenzy Spark. Proximity.

My mother's face flashes in my mind. Her cold hands. Her still chest.

You can't do this to me. Not tonight. Not when she's barely...

"Please," I gasp, my hands shaking as I try to cover myself. The silk is practically see through. I've never felt more naked in my life. "My mother... She's barely cold. You can't do this."

Nobody responds.

Vane shoves Malakai back.

A hard, physical snarl echoes in the room….I don't even know who made it. Maybe both of them. Malakai stumbles but doesn't fall. His eyes snap to Vane, and for a moment, they aren't brothers. They're rivals.

"Back off, Malakai." Vane's voice sounds like two stones grinding together. "I can smell her from here. It's making my blood boil."

Smell me?

I look down at myself. At my wrists. The lingering scent of the sedative Sloane gave me, no, not sedative. Frenzy Spark. Is that what they're smelling? Is that what's doing this to them?

Malakai's fangs catch the low light. They're elongating….I can see it happening. The sharp points pressing against his lower lip.

"She's the sacrifice, Vane." His voice is a blade wrapped in silk. "Don't lose your head over a cheap trick."

"It's not a trick."

Roman's whisper freezes my blood.

He's moved closer without me noticing. I feel his fingers before I see them grazing my bare ankle, featherlight. I jerk my leg back but his hand follows, wrapping around my calf.

"It's an invitation," he breathes.

Invitation.

I look at the door.

It's open.

A sliver of hallway light spills through the crack. I could run. I could scream. The staff is still here, the maids, the guards, someone…

But Vane is standing in the way.

Not blocking the door intentionally. Just... existing between me and freedom. His massive frame takes up half the room.

I realize it then, fully, completely.

I'm trapped in a room with three monsters who are losing their human masks.

The tears come before I can stop them. Not dramatic sobbing, just quiet, terrified gasps that I can't seem to control. My chest heaves. My vision blurs.

This isn't happening. This isn't happening.

Malakai leans in.

His nose brushes against my ear…I flinch so hard I almost bite my own tongue. He inhales. A deep, slow drag of breath that makes my skin crawl.

He's smelling my terror.

"Your mother is dead, Lilith." His voice is soft. Almost gentle. That makes it worse. "And if you don't start moving toward that door, you might wish you were too."

I freeze.

"Because once the moon hits the center of the sky..." He pulls back just enough to look at me. His gray eyes are almost gone now….just thin rings around endless black. "I won't be able to stop what they do to you."

What they do to me.

Not we. They.

He's separating himself. Already distancing. As if he knows exactly what's coming and he's already decided to let it happen.

My body moves before my brain catches up.

I lunge for the door.

My bare feet hit the cold floor. I'm three steps in…two….the silk is tearing, I don't care,the door is right there….right there….

The heavy oak frame slams shut.

Not by a hand.

By the sheer force of Vane's kick.

The sound echoes through the room like a death knell. I stumble back, my shoulder hitting the wall. My chest heaving. My heart screaming.

Click.

He's locked it.

Vane turns to face me. His hand reaches out, slowly, deliberately and catches the hem of my sheer gown. The fabric is so thin I feel his heat through it.

"The door is closed, Princess." His voice rumbles through my bones. "And the night has just begun."