Page 51 of Red Masquerade

“Make me?”

He nodded once, and I realized he was staring at my throat again. “It will take only a moment.”

Perhaps I should’ve let Flora and Dixon come along, just so my being alone didn’t put a target on my back.

“I’m not interested.” I mustered as much strength and boredom into my voice as I could and moved to side-step the man.

His hand fell on my elbow. The feeling of sliminess snaked its way into me, making me cringe.

“Just a moment, and you won’t have to worry anymore,” he crooned, and then his lips were nearly on my neck, and though I knew I had to run, willing my knee to jerk upward, tomove, I was still as stone, paralyzed. I lost all control of my movements as his nose trailed along my ear.

I shut my eyes and shivered.

Move.

A large, pale hand landed on his shoulder and wrenched him back. His eyes widened as he stumbled, but only for a moment.

The face I had been looking for, the man of the hour, stood just behind him.

I’d seen Adam glare, seen him angry before. The last time I’d seen him,before, was the only time I’d seen a cool rage take over,and he was no longer himself. It was as though the life left his eyes, and he darkened, and though he said nothing when Lucas berated him and threatened him, threatenedme, I knew everything he wanted to say, because that look in his face made him the progeny of a devil.

And it was the look he bestowed upon my would-be attacker, who paled even whiter than the moon flowers around us.

“Go,” Adam said, and his voice wasn’t his own.

But it only took the one word, and I was forgotten to the stranger. He didn’t even look at me, eyes glazed over as soon as Adam appeared, and he turned to leave. I thought I saw claws at his fingertips, poised at his sides, stiff and ready.

I loosed a shuddering breath, watching my attacker retreat. But my heart still pounded. “I had it handled.”

Those predator eyes slid toward me. “You had that anything but handled.”

“I don’t need you to step in and save me.”I’ve made it this long.

But monsters didn’t exist until he came back. Monsters that drew blood for their own pleasure didn’t prowl here until he came back.

He clenched his jaw, and I thought he’d fight me on it, but after a moment, he just nodded. “I’m sorry.”

I scoffed. “For what?” The waning adrenaline made my fingers numb.

Maybe it was because we expected each other this evening, but the air between us felt different. I hadn’t happened upon him by surprise—and he seemed to want to be found. He waited.For me.

“For everything,” he said. I felt my resolve crack a little.

I didn’t want toforgive so easily.

“For leaving you. For waiting all these years. For letting you go through it alone.”

“I wasn’t alone.”

His expression was pained, almost like he couldn’t look at me, and it made me angry.

“I had Flora,” I said. I wanted him to hurt, too. “I found ways to pass the time—people to pass the time with.” He knew what it meant.

Adam swallowed, and he nodded again. “It’s my fault.”

I wasyearspast worrying whose fault it was. It was something I’d gone over in my head to exhaustion. In the end, it didn’t matter, because I was still stuck with Mother wanting me to marry, and Lucas choosing the lucky bachelor. I was still stuck all this time with men I didn’t want.Oneman I didn’t want, ready to take me away to England.

The weight of it all felt immovable, crushing.