Page 107 of Scarlet Wars
Want wrapped in bravado.
And all I could think was how close I was to losing any sort of control I’d ever had.
“You want to play, little spider?” The words were a clear warning. “Wanna drive me straight to insanity?”
I tilted my chin toward Levi, who was still lingering like a fool. “Go on,” I said, eyes never leaving hers. “Try me. Walk over there and see what happens next.”
I let my thumb trace across the underside of her lip, dragging once, slow enough that it felt like a sin. Testing. Tasting. Claiming.
Her tongue peeked out again, brushing against the tip of my finger.
My control shattered, blood roaring in my ears, and I would’ve kissed her right then if the universe hadn’t decided to intervene.
“You guys ready to go downstairs? The afterparty’s all set up!”
Levi’s annoying voice shattered the moment like glass.
Emma jerked back first, breathless, eyes wide, skin still flushed. My hand dropped from her throat, fingers curling into a useless fist at my side.
“I’ll, uh…” She smoothed her dress, not looking at me. “I’ll meet you guys there. I just need to…get a breather.”
Before I could say a damn thing, she turned and slipped past Levi, heels clicking against the floor.
By the time I stepped into the hallway, she was already gone, bolting through the doors and out into the night like I was the one thing she could never survive.
TWENTY-SIX
EMMA
Watching Caden in that cage had beenagony.
When that rebar tore into him, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the one, sick certainty clawing its way through me:this is how he dies. This is where I lose him.
I hadn’t even thought about using my haze, it simply surged out of me and into him, healing him without a real conscious move on my part.
But then he’d straightened and turned the fight into something else entirely. Precision. Fury. Control. It was terrifying to watch and gods help me, it washot.
The way his body moved, like violence was an extension of his skin…it set my pulse racing for all the wrong reasons. Fear and heat tangled until I couldn’t tell them apart, until I hated myself for wanting him.
And then…he’d dragged me off to a dark corner, murmuring all the things I was craving more than life.
I need air.
And I needed distance, miles of it.
I shoved the doors open and stumbled into the night. The cold hit me hard—damp with city grit—but it felt cleaner thananything inside. The chill bit the back of my throat, grounding me enough to stop shaking.
Couldn’t have been more than two minutes before footsteps scuffed behind me. Heavy. Male. I didn’t even need to turn to know it was Caden coming to haul me back in, to start round two of whatever the hell that had been.
But when I spun around, it was Levi who stood a few feet away, grinning like he’d caught me doing something I shouldn’t.
“Didn’t peg you for the type to sneak off alone,” he commented in a voice too smooth.
I stiffened but forced my face neutral. “Didn’t peg you for the type to follow women into dark alleys.”
He chuckled, clearly pleased with himself.
With every step he took, my skin crawled. Every instinct screamed to retreat, but I forced myself to stay still, nails digging crescents into my palms.
