Page 9 of While He Breathes

I hate the Hunter. Despise his existence. Want him dead more than I want my heart to continue beating.

But I love Orion. And that’s the problem.

As cold as I’ve become, the thought of the man who dragged me from rock bottom still warms me from the inside out, even if I should loathe him for his deception. For what he took from me. For his part in the way my world crumbled around me.

The car stops at the bottom with a jolt that would have at least made me stumble in my heels if I weren’t holding onto the railing behind me.

As the doors slide open, I take a deep breath and steel myself.

I can do this.

I can complete my job.

I can face the Hunter.

And when the time comes, I can kill him and finally set myself free.

CHAPTER FIVE

ORION

Itug at my suit jacket, but it’s no use.

There’s no escaping the heat that comes with being in a room with a hundred other people, a hundred feet beneath the ground.

Killian stands beside me, his eyes moving over the room with practiced scrutiny.

I didn’t want to come tonight. I haven’t wanted to do much of anything for months. But there are things up for auction that I’m interested in. And more than that, there was a rumor she would be here.

The Thief.

Ember.

My little flame.

They’re all the same woman who stole my heart and ran for the hills. The woman who has managed to evade me at every single turn.

I tried setting up jobs for her under fake names, sending private investigators to track her, and even spent a few weeks in Las Vegas following bullshit lead after bullshit lead.

It’s so ironic that I’d find it amusing if it weren’t for the fact that every day she’s away from me, I sink deeper into despair.

I see it now.

Killian’s insistence not to care for anyone. Because caring means leaving your heart out on the table and hoping the other person doesn’t break it.

But if Ember thought three months was enough to make me give up, she couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, every day that passes only makes me more determined to have her back in my arms, and there’s nothing I won’t do to bring her home.

I may have wanted to do things the right way before, but now I’m more than happy to take matters into my own hands.

If she won’t come willingly, I have no issues with locking her up until she can behave, until she remembers how fucking good we were together.

I’ll spend the rest of my goddamn life reminding her that there is no me without her, and no her without me. We are two sides of the same coin. The same heart beating in different bodies. The sun and the moon.

We’re inevitable.

I glance over at the elevator again, desperate to catch sight of her in person after only seeing her in photographs for what feels like a lifetime.

But it’s not a lifetime.