Page 55 of Venomous Kiss

But I stay because it also gives me the luxury to do what I love.

Hunt.

When I get to the hospital, I’m directed to Maya. Before I walk in, my cell rings again.

“What?” I growl.

“You have some fucking nerve,” Soren bellows into the phone, his voice echoing with rage. The sound of his heavy breathing punctuates his words, each exhale laden with tension. It’s as if he’s struggling to deal with the storm brewing within him.

“If you say so.”

“Where is she?” Soren demands, his tone tight with concern.

“Hospital.”

“Where are you?” Soren asks, urgency creeping into his voice.

“Hospital.” My words are clipped and cold.

“I’ll be there soon.” Soren hangs up on me, and I walk into the treatment area as a doctor walks out.

Maya’s gaze finds mine, and she smiles. “Don’t be mad. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to look at me like that.”

“Your heart?”

“It’s fine. I haven’t had a spell for months.” She averts her gaze. “I have abnormal heart rhythms. It’s what causes it.”

“Maya…” I walk over to her. “This isn’t going to work. Fuck, it sucks that you’re here, and I have to tell you this like this, but you need to know. It’s not you I want.”

“I know, but can’t you try a little more?” Her eyes plead with me, searching for some sign of reassurance amidst the chaos that surrounds us.

I sit in the chair next to the bed and look her in the eye, feeling the weight of her desperation. “I’ve tried.” Fuck, I have tried.

“Have you, though?” she asks as the machines monitor her heart and beep in an uncontrolled rhythm. “It seems like you haven’t.”

“I have tried,” I insist. “But it’s not you I want,” I reiterate the words Maya does not want to hear.

She nods and wipes a tear from her eye. “It’s her, right? That other woman.” Her lip pulls up into a sneer. “She is trash. She won’t fit into this world, Reon. Do you get that?” I don’t even flinch at her words. I know she is trying to persuade me into seeing Lilith in a less than ideal light, but truth be told, Lilith could burn my fucking house down with me standing in it, and I would still see her as the most perfect fucking woman ever to grace this earth.

I stand as Soren storms in. He goes straight to Maya’s bedside and grabs her hand as he glares at me.

“We should talk,” I tell him.

“Yeah, we should.” He leans down and whispers something to his sister before motioning for me to follow him. As we leave the treatment area, Soren shuts the door and paces in front of me. “It’s taking everything in me right now not to kill you right here where you stand.” He points to the floor angrily. “I could slice your neck open, cut your carotid artery, and you would be dead in minutes. No one could save you.” He shoots me a cruel grin.

“I don’t want your fucking sister, Soren. And you could try to kill me, but do you really think I would let you?” I raise a brow. “We both know you may be powerful, but your weakness is thinking that no one can match up to you.”

“I’ll kill her, then. Yeah, maybe I’ll do that,” he says, squaring his shoulders. “Since I can’t get you, I’ll go after her.”

“If you go after her, I’ll go after Maya. You want to play tit for tat”—straightening to my full height, I lift my chin and point to the room we just vacated—“then let’s fucking play.”

He cracks his neck. “Go and say goodbye before I change my mind and find her.” Soren snarls out the words.

Soren isn’t a man who scares me, but his power. Well, that is intimidating. He may be lethal with his hands—we’ve all witnessed his fights, and we all know he likes smashing someone’s face in with his bare hands. So if he wanted to go after Lilith, he could try to fucking kill her—but he would have to go through me first. And if he did, I would kill every-fucking-thing he loves.

The Forsaken be damned.

“And Reon?”