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“Get down,” I barked, voice rough over the gusts. “Now.”
“Where the hell did you come from?” she shouted, but she was moving, scrambling toward the ladder. Smart girl. One less problem.
Vivi was higher, on the sloped truss, her body pressed against a cable, her shoes slipping on the slick steel. The chopper’s spotlight locked on her, and the crowd below gasped, their voices a distant hum. I climbed after her, muscles burning, heartpounding. The demon was a roar, drowning out everything but her.
“Vivi!” I shouted, voice raw, half-swallowed by the wind. She didn’t turn, but her head tilted, and that grin—fuck, that grin—flashed in the spotlight.
“You came,” she called, voice light, teasing, like we weren’t four stories up with death waiting below. “Knew you couldn’t resist.”
“Get down,” I growled, closing the distance, hands gripping the truss. “Now.”
She laughed, throaty and warm, and it hit me like a shot of whiskey. “Make me, Cipher.”
My control snapped, the demon breaking free. I lunged, fast, my hand catching her wrist. Her skin was warm, her pulse racing under my fingers, and the contact was a jolt, electric and consuming. I pulled her against me, her body flush with mine, the wind screaming around us. Her eyes locked on mine, green and defiant, and the world stopped.
“You’re out of your fucking mind,” I snarled, face inches from hers. “You think this is a game? You think I’ll let you kill yourself?”
Her grin didn’t falter, but her eyes softened, just a flicker. “You’re here, aren’t you? That’s what I wanted.”
I tightened my grip, my other hand sliding to her waist, anchoring her to me. “You don’t get to play with your life like this. Not anymore.”
She leaned closer, lips brushing my ear, breath hot against my skin. “Then stop me, Elias. If you can.”
The demon roared, and I was done. I kissed her, hard and desperate, my mouth claiming hers like I could pour every ounce of my obsession into her. She kissed me back, fierce and unyielding, her hands fisting in my jacket, her body pressing against mine. The wind howled, the spotlight burned, but noneof it mattered. There was only her—her taste, her heat, the way she burned through every wall I’d built.
I pulled back, forehead against hers, breath ragged. “You’re mine,” I said, words low, possessive, a vow I hadn’t meant to make. “No more running. No more games.”
Her eyes searched mine, and for the first time, I saw a crack in her defiance, a flicker of something raw.
“You sure you can handle me, Cipher?”
I smirked, despite the storm in my chest. “Try me, Red.”
The sirens below grew louder, the chopper’s rotors thumping closer. I didn’t care. I guided her down, hand never leaving her, body shielding her from the wind. Jessa was on the ground, arguing with a cop, but I didn’t stop. I led Vivi past the crowd, past the flashing lights, to my SUV. The cops yelled, but I was a Dane, untouchable, and they knew it. Nobody followed.
I opened the passenger door, eyes locked on hers. “Get in.”
She raised an eyebrow, that grin creeping back. “Bossy.”
“Now,” I said, voice low.
She slid inside, movements deliberate, provocative, like she knew what she was doing to me. I slammed the door, rounded the hood, and got behind the wheel. The engine roared, and I pulled out, the bridge fading in the rearview.
“Where are we going?” she asked, voice soft but edged with challenge.
I didn’t answer, hands tight on the wheel. I didn’t know. Dominion Hall, her apartment, anywhere I could keep her close—it didn’t matter. She was here, with me, and I wasn’t letting her go. Not tonight.
My phone buzzed, an alert from my scripts. I ignored it. The world could burn for all I cared. Vivi was in my car, her presence a live wire against my skin. I’d killed for her, climbed a bridge for her, and now I was hers, whether I liked it or not.
The demon was quiet, but I wasn’t fooled. It was waiting, ready to rage again. And as I drove into the Charleston night, the city’s pulse matching the one in my veins, I knew one thing: Vivienne Laveau was mine, and I’d tear the world apart to keep her.
9
VIVIENNE
The moment the SUV hit the open road, I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Elias didn’t flinch, but I felt the shift. The subtle tick of his jaw. The white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. The way his eyes flicked toward me, just once, like he already knew I was about to start trouble.