Page 79 of Satanic Shadow

I’m either going to strangle her or kiss her.

“Don’t you dare kiss me,” I say, wanting the opposite. “It’ll ruin everything. We covered that task, so we don’t need to kiss again.”

Dane glares down at me, hums, and curls a lock of hair behind my ear with a bloodstained hand. His fingertips glide against my cheek, and the touch sends shocks through my body, but I don’t show it. I swallow, gripping the dresser.

Before he can speak or do anything else, his head snaps up and directs his gaze to the door, his jaw ticking as his nostrils flare.

Dane pushes away from me and grabs his jacket. “I have an issue to attend to. Stay here. I won’t be long.”

“No, you’re staying here.” I step towards him. “I’m not a dog, Dane. Stop treating me like one. You can’t make me stay here.”

Something cold and heavy snakes around my arms, and I’m thrown onto the bed with a yelp. I look to see metal cuffs on each wrist with a chain bounding me to the headboard. “Hey! What the hell?”

“You’ll stay. If you leave, I cannot protect you.”

I tug at them and scowl at him, closing my legs so he can’t see my pussy and how annoyingly wet it is for him. “Who protects me from you?”

He rolls his eyes. “Shut up.”

“Very mature response,” I snap. “When will you return?”

“Soon. And when I do return, I want you to explain to me where you’ve been with Valin.”

I frown and stop pulling at the manacles on my wrists. “Valin? What are you talking about? I was with you yesterday during practice!”

He wets his lips and straightens his suit jacket. “That was three days ago.”

What?“I don’t understand,” I say, confused, my eyes flitting from side to side as I try to remember. “I went to my room once we finished practice and woke up in here.”

Right?

I even remember sending Poppy a text saying she’d love the cinema.

Dane tosses the duvet over my bottom half and wordlessly lights a candle. He notes the dumbfounded look on my face and huffs.

“After you failed to show up to class and your insufferable friends couldn’t find you, they came to me. I managed to track you and found you in the middle of the forest.” He doesn’t lookat me, but his tone changes as he adds, “You were unconscious and have been for the last three days. I kept you in here until we got answers.”

My brows reach my hairline. “What? I’ve been asleep in your bed for three days?”

He gives me a look. “That’s what you pick up from what I said?”

“I went to my room after practice yesterday. I took a bath and read a book. Then I went to bed and texted Poppy before I fell asleep. You’re wrong.”

“I amnotwrong. You were blue. Your lips and your skin were blue except for this.” He gestures to my hands without touching me. “At the time, I couldn’t do much, since your—a very intense power was attacking me for taking you. I tried to extract it, but it fought back and I only broke through it a few hours ago.”

That explains the mess of his face and clothes, the gash on his cheek that runs down his neck. I want to touch it, to reach forward and heal it. But I don’t have powers.

“I really don’t understand.” I bite my lip and try to think, but the play-by-play of me spending my night is clear. “I…” My eyes sting, frustration running wild in my head. “I…”

“You’re safe now—that’s the main thing.”

I scoff. “Like you care.”

I see the faintest smirk as he straightens away from me and turns towards the door. “You are my partner.”

My voice shakes as I speak again, stopping him in his steps. “Is there a possibility that I was… that our partnership for these tasks may be void.”

Dane glances over his shoulder at me. “You weren’t touched from what I could see or sense.”