The look in Brian’s eyes turned Kira’s stomach.
It always did. There was sothing in the way he looked at her that made her skin want to crawl off her body and find sowhere cleaner to be.
She lifted her chin, fixed her gaze straight ahead, and moved to walk past him without giving him so much as a word.
Brian’s hand shot out and caught her arm.
"Not so fast."
He pulled her back, and before she could right herself he had pinned her to the wall, one arm braced beside her head, his body crowding in close enough that she had nowhere left to go. He leaned in until his face was almost touching hers.
Kira’s knee ca up fast, aid straight for straight for his groin.
Brian shifted his hips and blocked it without even looking down, pressing her harder into the wall with his weight.
"Do you think I’m a fool?" he murmured, smiling. "I’ve been watching you long enough to know exactly what you’ll do before you do it."
Kira shoved against his chest. He did not move an inch.
"Get your filthy hands off ," she hissed.
"And where," Brian said pleasantly, glancing down the empty corridor, "is your usual little flock of guards today? All those big, serious n who follow you everywhere. How careless of you to misplace them."
She said nothing. She pushed again. He held.
"Tell ." His voice dropped, almost intimate. "Did you receive my little token? When you were in the hospital."
Kira went still.
The flowers. The lilies. The note tucked between the stems that had read so strangely the second ti.
I counted every stair you fell down.
Brian watched the understanding move across her face and his smile widened, delighted with himself.
"Go to hell," she spat. "And take your flowers with you. Burn to ashes while you’re at it."
"Feisty." He said it like a man tasting sothing he enjoyed. "Goddess, I do love that about you."
He leaned in closer, and Kira turned her face away from him.
"I’ll give you credit where it’s due," he went on. "That business with Ruby was very impressive. The whole pack is talking about it. Their clever new queen, untangling all of Ruby’s little webs."
He tilted his head. "But you should be careful, my love. You made enemies that day. Killing Ruby pleased so people and it offended others. Powerful others. You’d do well to watch your back."
Kira’s breath was coming fast and uneven now, her chest heaving with the effort of struggling against a body that simply would not give.
"Stop fighting ," Brian said.
"What do you want?" The words ca out sharp.
"You." He said it simply, like it was obvious, like she was slow for needing to ask. "I want you to beco mine, Kira. Co to , and I’ll protect you. From anyone. From everything." His eyes glittered. "Even from Derek himself."
"Go and fuck yourself," Kira spat, and threw her weight against him again.
Brian only pressed her back into the wall, calm and unbothered.
"You should stop that," he said. "Every ti you struggle, you rub more of my scent into your clothes. Into your skin. And we both know your husband has a very sensitive nose." He smiled. "He won’t be pleased when he cos ho and finds all over you again."
"Good," Kira shot back. "I hope he does. I hope he slls you on and tears your throat clean out of your neck."
Brian laughed. It was a soft, genuinely amused sound, and sohow that was worse than anything else.
"Do you really believe that’s how it would go?" He shook his head slowly, like she had said sothing endearing and naive.
"Not this ti, sweetheart. You’re still so certain, aren’t you. So sure that when it truly matters, Derek will choose you over Dravengard."
Kira’s brows pulled together. "What are you talking about? Stop spouting nonsense."
"It isn’t nonsense." Brian’s voice turned lighter, almost conversational, which made the next part land colder. "There was a werewolf attack last night. One of the lower villages. Rogues, they’re saying."
Kira stared at him.
"Now isn’t that strange," Brian continued. "Truly, think about it. Since Derek beca regent of Dravengard, there has not been a single breach. Not one. The man is obsessive about security. He turned this whole territory into a fortress with his bare hands. Nothing gets in. Nothing."
He paused. "And yet, last night, sohow, werewolf rogues walked straight into the lower villages." He searched her face. "You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"Why," Kira said slowly, "would I know anything about a werewolf attack?"
Brian looked at her for a long mont. Then he reached up and brushed a loose strand of hair from her cheek, gentle, almost tender, and it made her want to be sick.
"Soon, my love," he said softly. "Soon you’ll understand all of it. But for now?" His hand lingered against her face. "Keep a close eye on your pretty little friend. Dravengard is not a safe place for her at all."
As if the world itself had been waiting for the cue, Kira’s phone buzzed in her hand.
She glanced down. Jessica’s na lit up the screen.
Brian’s smile spread slowly. He stepped back at last, releasing her, lifting both hands in a small mocking gesture of surrender.
Kira pushed off the wall and answered the call, already walking, already putting distance between herself and him.
"Jessica?"
"Kira, where are you?" Jessica’s voice was tight, wrong, stripped of its usual brightness. "Listen to . Kai just told I need to leave Dravengard. Now. Today. He says it isn’t safe here anymore, not for ."
Kira’s steps slowed.
She turned around.
Brian was still standing there at the other end of the corridor, his hands in his pockets, watching her. And he was smiling at her, slow and sinister, like a man who already knew how every part of this was going to end.
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