Claimed By The Predator
Right now, Ari needed to be held, needed to know that he hadn’t been abandoned, that his predator had come back for him.
So I held him. Pressed my face into his hair, inhaled him like he was the only thing keeping me alive. Let my hands memorize the fragile curve of his back, the way his body fit into mine as though it had always been meant to.
“You’re safe,” I murmured against his skin. “With me, you’re safe.”
And under my breath, quieter, darker, so only the bond would carry it: And they’re already dead.
Because Ari might not have named them. He might not have told me who. But prey doesn’t need to point out predators.
Predators reveal themselves when they bleed.
And I was about to make the