Page 56 of Our Covenant

I laugh. I can’t help it. Because it’s her own magic that has driven me to this point. It’s because of her charm that I feel crazed. She’s here because she wants to be. She’s with us because she willed it.

“You toyed with Thorne’s heart for fun. I don’t blame him for acting rash now that he knows it was all a lie.”

“It wasn’t a lie,” she shouts then pulls her anger back, surprising both of us.

“Nothing about you is real, Elsbeth. Not your name. Not your academic record. Not your intentions.” I stare down at her. Embarrassment has emblazoned the cascade of freckles across her cheeks, but she refuses to back down. “That can all end now.”

Her brow ticks.

“You could run.” I turn my head to the door that leads to the back patio, her gaze following.

“You’ll kill me.”

“No,” I say simply and release my grip on the countertop, leaving her a path. “I won’t.”

She takes a tentative step toward the door but looks back into the all-glass room on our other side. “You’re bluffing.”

“I’m calling yours,” I retort. “I don’t think you’ll run because whoever is waiting for you outside the protection of this house is more of a threat to you than we are.”

I’ve thought it through for hours. It’s no secret that she was able to rip through our wards without breaking a sweat. She could have run any time. But she didn’t try any of the doors that led outside or to our rooms. She’s lying in wait.

“Is this another one of your games?” She takes another step and pauses. “You’re going to stop me as soon as I step foot outside.”

I wave my hand through the air and the back door opens at my command. She eyes me for a long moment before her foot lifts for another step. One more.

“You won’t follow me?” I hear that trace of disappointment in her voice again.

“I didn’t say that.” I smile and slip my hands in my pockets.

“So, it is a game. Some sick version of tag.”

I cross the distance she put between us, towering over her once again. She stands her ground.

“More like finders keepers.”

“You want to keep me?”

There’s a lightness in her question. Dissecting the meanings to anything she’s said has kept me locked within myself. Reminding myself over and over that she’s dangerous and here for a reason had me close to a breaking point I haven’t seen in over a year. But looking at her now, with her nipples pebbled under her shirt and a daring grin on her lips, I don’t feel like I have to hide away anymore.

Footsteps from the hall behind us get louder then stop. “What the fuck are you doing?” Thorne’s presence makes her hike her shoulders, but she still doesn’t budge.

“Up for a little run around the orchard?” I ask him, holding Elsbeth’s gaze, and I see the exact moment that the thrill of what I’ve just implied crosses her mind.

She slowly takes another step back, and I hold out my arm to stop Thorne as he tries to follow her.

“Mads, what are you doing?” She uses my nickname and it grates on a nerve.

“Maddox,” I correct, and she shivers. “And I’m giving you a ten-second head start before Thorne and I come after you.”

“You’re not serious.” She looks down her body to the only bit of clothing she’s wearing. “I don’t even have shoes.”

“You won’t need them,” Thorne says in defiance. “Because this isn’t happening.”

“This is what she wants,” I counter, stepping to her side and kicking my own shoes off. “Isn’t that right?”

She looks down to my feet then back up at me, confusion then recognition dancing across her eyes.

“No— I mean, yes. I want to leave, but I’ll freeze to death.” She pulls at the hem of her shirt to emphasize the scantiness. “And I can’t outrun both of you.”