Chapter 7 - Flight through Shadows

ARIA

The key bit into my palm. I kept my fist closed tight around it while I moved through the passages. The path seemed to be narrow again. I couldn't see any clearer from my blurred vision. My breathing seemed to sound too loud in the narrow space but I couldn't slow down.

I turned a corner and something white caught my eye. Paper on the ground held down with a rock. I picked it up.

It was a sketch. It had corridors mapped in rough lines, X marks on some and a writing at the bottom: Avoid the main hall. Stay to shadows.

Was it help or a trap? It didn't matter. I was already moving.

I heard heavy footsteps echoing from behind me.

I quickly pressed myself into a tight corner and held my breath.

Two wolves passed, standing close enough to touch each other. I feared that my human scent would have been caught but somehow it wasn't.

The corridor opened into a proper hallway now. Moonlight lit the high windows and cast dancing shadows. Through the archway ahead I saw the courtyard. And beyond that were the gates.

Freedom was right there.

I started moving forward then I saw something that made me stop. There was a maid's dress hanging on a hook. It looked like someone left it there for me.

My hands shook grabbing it. I quickly yanked the dress over my head. There was a scarf with it too so I wrapped my hair.

I stepped into the courtyard. No guards. No wolves. Just empty space between me and the gates.

I walked across and each step felt like it took forever. Finally I reached the gates.

I pushed it open and stepped out, forcing all the composure I could.

"So you think I wouldn't recognize you."

The voice came from darkness somewhere behind me.

Low. Controlled. Dangerous.

Everything inside me went still.

I turned slow because I didn't want to but had to.

Caelan leaned against a tree just outside the gates with his arms crossed. Moonlight caught his eyes and made them burn gold. His mouth curved into something that promised pain.

"You thought you could run from me?" he said, pushing off the trees and walking toward me.

"Did you really think you'd get away?"

I should have run. My legs refused to listen. They simply stayed frozen..

He stood directly in front of me. Close enough that I felt the heat radiating off his skin.

"How did you know?" I said, my voice a bare whisper.

"I always know where you are.” He tucked a fallen strand of hair behind my ear.

"Did you think a dress would hide you? Would make me not recognise my pet?"

My chest tightened like a fist had closed around it.

"Let me go," I demanded. “I am not your pet.”

"But you are, little human" His hand moved to my jaw and tilted my face up. "You are my pet. And mine to do with what I please."

Here’s a more human, natural version with no dashes, no dashes replacing pauses, and a grounded emotional reaction:

“Let me go,” I demanded. “I’m not your pet.”

“But you are, little human.” His hand moved to my jaw and lifted my face. “You are my pet. Mine to do with as I please.”

My stomach knotted. I hated that he might be right.

"I don't belon–”

"Yes. You do,” he cut me off. Then leaned in closer. "And you know it."

His breath warmed my neck and a shiver ran down my spine before I could stop it.

His fingers slid to the back of my neck. Tangled in my hair. "Even running. You're still mine."

I began to feel things I had no right feeling while his hand was on me, and it terrified me.

"Did you really think I wouldn't chase you?" He tightened his grip on my hair and I gasped.

“That I'd let you walk away?"

"...I needed to try,” I muttered, feeling small.

"I know." His thumb traced my jaw. "And now you know what happens when you fail."

Heat flooded through me. Heat that had no business being there and I hated that it was happening.

He pulled back to look at my face. His eyes tracked over everything.

"There it is." His mouth curved. "The fire I'm going to enjoy pulling out."

"I…hate you."

The words left my lips, but they didn’t sit right. It confused me.

I should have felt nothing but hatred… so why did saying it feel wrong?

"I know,” he answered almost immediately as his hand moved to my waist, pulling me against him. "But that's not what your body says."

I could feel every inch of him pressed against me. The solid muscle. The heat. The hardness that made my stomach twist with something dangerous.

"Tell me you're mine."

"Never."

"Liar." He leaned down until his mouth was near mine. "We both know the truth. You knew it the moment our eyes met at that auction."

My pulse hammered. "You're wrong."

"Am I?" His hand slid up my side. "Then why are you trembling? Why can't you look away?"

I couldn't answer.

“Say it,” he ordered softly. “Say you belong to me.”

"No."

His mouth brushed my throat. “Then I’ll make you scream it instead.”

Cold air hit me when he stepped back.

“Walk.

Or I throw you over my shoulder and carry you back.”

I walked.

He stayed one step behind me the whole way.

And I hated how my body already knew it was going to end up in his bed.