Page 47 of Property of Crypt Keeper

My gaze drifted briefly toward the empty twin bed in the corner beyond the bars before returning to the shadows of the room.

Something had changed the night we fucked. I could feel it. The connection between us had sharpened after we coupled. I couldn’t get him out of my head. Except this wasn’t a mere attraction anymore.

It was deeper. Possessive. Ancient.

Every time his emotions were intense, I swore I could sense it. It was this sensation low in my spine like heat spreading beneath my skin. It made no sense, and I hated things I couldn’t explain.

As if I’d summoned him with my thoughts, I heard the distant rumble of a motorcycle. At first, I wondered if it was him or one of his club members he’d sent to check on me again.

The bike arrived, and the motor stopped. My hairs stood on end, and I knew. Some little thing in me seemed to unfurl.

The lock clicked on the shack entrance. I lifted my head slowly.

Gideon stepped inside, and the heat that was seeping through my every cell seemed to flood down between my legs. Desire roared through my core and exploded in my chest. I shoved it down because I could tell this wasn’t the time.

One look at him told me this wasn’t another routine interrogation. His control was fraying. The energy coming off him rolled through the shack like a storm front—anger, confusion, violence, barely restrained beneath skin.

And beneath all of it—fear.

Interesting.

I pushed slowly to my feet.

“Well,” I drawled softly with a cocked brow, “you look mighty homicidal tonight.”

He ignored the jab. Closed the door behind him. Locked it. Then just stood there staring at me.

The silence stretched long enough that I started getting irritated. After getting to my feet, I slowly prowled toward the faintly humming bars. When I was just out of arm’s reach, I stopped. My hair draped over one shoulder, the ends teasing one of my nipples until I had to clench my thighs together.

My voice intentionally sultry, I tried another tactic. “It’s a good thing food and bathroom needs aren’t a necessity for me. How long do you plan to keep me here? Because I do have other needs I would like to get fulfilled.”

His gaze swept over my curves, and I didn’t mistake the flash of appreciation that made his pupils dilate. His fingers curled and flexed before he tightened them into a fist. Yet, he still didn’t speak.

“What happened?” I finally demanded.

His jaw flexed once. Then he asked me something I wasn’t expecting.

“What do you know about supernatural breeding experiments?”

The question hit like cold water. I went still. Not visibly. But inside? Everything tightened as if crystals of ice were forming around my very cells.

“I know enough to stay away from them,” I carefully replied.

His eyes narrowed. “That’s not an answer.”

“No,” I agreed. “It’s survival.”

He stepped closer to the bars. “You know something.”

Of course I did. Rafael trained me to pay attention to details long before he trained me to kill. Disappearances. Specifically missing supernaturals. Rumors about facilities no one ever found twice.

Honestly, I always assumed they were exaggerated. It wasn’t something I really cared about because it wasn’t part of my mission in life. I’d led a focused and purposeful existence for the majority of my life. Kill the creatures that were responsible for killing my parents. Systematically eliminate them from the face of the earth. That was all I worried about.

Now? Not so much, because there were a lot of things crossing paths with my mission that were raising some serious red flags. The fact that Gideon was bringing this up to me brought those red flags directly in front of my face.

“What happened?” I repeated, my very breath frozen in my lungs.

This time he answered.