Page 50 of The Darkness is Calling

“Sasha, don’t go yet. Both of you, in the office!”

I press my lips into a thin line because his interruption keeps me from reaching my room faster.

From sleeping peacefully, the way I have for two nights.

From seeing her.

The voices are thirsty for her. They want to smell her, touch her. They scrape my brain with their sharp nails, screaming for me to go to her faster.

Leave them

!

We want her close

!

We haven’t seen her all day

! Ours

!

Ours

!

But I take a deep breath, clenching my fists. I turn back and follow him, already anticipating what he has to say.

And I’m already planning my answers. Visibly annoyed and confused, Sasha slams the door a little too hard behind him once we are all back in the office.

“What the fuck happened?” he snaps at our older brother.

But Yaroslav is tense, hands on his hips, giving me an accusing look.

“Have you completely lost your mind?” His tone is loaded with anger and... concern.

“Does it look like I have?” I ask, keeping my expression unreadable.

“Yes!”

“Then it only looks that way.”

“But you know what I’m talking about!”

My answer is a careless shrug.

“Well, I don’t,” Sasha complains. “And I’m the one who has a date with a famous model in half an hour.”

He taps one finger against his expensive watch, the one that will surely impress the girl, though not us.

“He likes her!” Yaroslav snaps, his words thick with exasperation.

“I just want to fuck her,” Sasha defends himself quickly, covering his chest with his hands like a shy virgin.

“I’m not talking to you!” Yaroslav shoots back, his sharp gaze drilling holes into my skull.

I don’t say a word and my expression stays perfectly indifferent.