Page 38 of On Edge

I didn’t bloody think. I just hauled her over my shoulder before she could slip again. She fought me the whole way down, squirming, cursing, her warm breath against my neck. She had no idea of what kind of danger she was in.

From me.

Because if she’d stayed in front of me like that, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from shoving her against the wall. From wrapping my hands around her until she understood exactly what kind of monster she’s trapped herself with.

Now the feel of her is branded on my skin. Her lavender perfume lingers on my clothes. She won’t get out of my head.

This is exactly why she needs to leave.

Though she still won’t.Sage has made that pretty clear. She has no idea she’s the prey, and that I’m the predator her mother warned her about. I should drag her to that boat myself, throw her in it, watch until it disappears across the lake, and I can breathe again,thinkagain. But something keeps me from doing that.

So, I reach for my hunting kit instead.

If she won’t go, then,fuck it, I will.

Because if I stay one more night with her under my roof, wearing my clothes, sleeping in my bed…I’ll stop warning her.

And I’ll start taking.

My demon won’t ask permission. It won’t care about carefully laid plans or that she’s Lovett by name only, nothing except the way she looked up at me the first night, shaking but refusing to run. It’s seared into my mind so much so that when I close my eyes, I can still see the desperation in her eyes as she clawed to get away from me.

From then on, it’s easy to imagine the sounds she’d make. How desirable she’d look, bloody and breathless, screaming my name.

So I need to hunt something worse. I need to sink a blade into something that deserves it before I sink it into something that doesn’t. Before I cross a line I swore I’d never cross.

I grab my bag with more force than necessary.

And then, slowly, I recheck my hunting kit for the tenth time. When Mundel’s footsteps echo in the hallway, I’m satisfied it’s all there. Of course it is. I never put it back without checking every blade is where it should be. Except the one in my jacket pocket.Mercy. I’ve been carrying the blade since Nell happenedbecause she wanted me to stop. Now I know who Nell was, the razor has no reason for being there.

But I haven’t put it back yet.

Hell knows why.

I reach forTruth, and the razor slips free with the merest hiss against the leather, and I’m already turning slightly when he appears in the doorway, my grip tightening on the cool metal handle.

“You sent her up to the tower.” I don’t look up from the weapon in my hands, testing its edge against my thumb. “Why?”

Mundel steps into the room. In my peripheral vision, his hands are visible, but not empty. He’s holding his hunting rifle, likely to clean it.

He hesitates in the doorway. “I was doing what you asked. I was watching her.”

“I never asked you to do that.” I scrape out, low and soft.

“And I was testing you.” His voice stays level, professional, like he always is around me.

“Me?” My tone sharpens.

He walks in and places the rifle on the counter, close to me, but his hands stay on the gun. “I wanted to see what Sage would do given the chance to climb the tower, where she’d go first. And whatyou’ddo when you saw she was up there.” He pauses. “I wanted to know if you still?—”

I step behind him and press the steel against his skin. Truth finds his throat before he can finish the sentence, the razor’s edge kissing his skin just below his Adam’s apple. “If I still what…Mundel?”

“If you still have a weakness.” He doesn’t flinch or pick up the rifle. He knows me better than that. “And now I know you do.”

The twisted, sadistic part of me really wants to slice him open, demanding blood. But the blade stills against his skin. The nasty side of me that spent years in Port Penn learning exactlyhow much a man can bleed before he stops breathing, longs to open his jugular and feel hot blood spill over just for mentioning her name.

She’s not his to watch. She’s mine.

After what her family did to me, and after what Nell did, I’ve earned that right. If anyone is going to hurt her, it’ll be me, and then I won’t hesitate. My demon side would make such a mess that even her father wouldn’t recognize what’s left.