At least my hands were.
But I couldn’t feel the heat of the flames.
Elias hadn’t unleashed that fire, I had. What the actual fuck?
I closed my hands into fists and the flames extinguished.
That’s not possible. I stared at my hands through the fog, lifting them closer to my face so I could examine them. There wasn’t a scratch on me. Something was wrong. I was seeing things. Hallucinating. Maybe I was already dead and this was what happened in the afterlife. Maybe there was something in this fog that made us see things that weren’t real.
An arm went around my throat and pulled me back. I gasped for breath, my fingers clawing at the strong arm as it dragged me backward. All worry for the fire was replaced by a frantic need to escape.
At least I knew I wasn’t dead because I could feel the pressure of the arm around my neck. Well, at least I wasn’t dead yet.
My captor dragged me through a door into a fogless room that I realized was a public bathroom. Urinals lined the wall and a pair of sinks stood on the other. In the mirror I could finally see who had me. David’s arm was still around my throat, the other around my waist.
He released me and shoved me toward the sinks. I hit the counter and then turned to face him. I glanced toward the door, considering my escape possibilities.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said.
“What do you want from me?” I wasn’t dead, which meant there was a reason he had me in here.
“I saw your hellfire.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
He closed the distance between us and leaned in so his face was next to mine. He was so close I could feel the heat of his body. In our first meeting, I barely had time to get a good look at him. Now, I was getting too much of him.
While Elias had dark hair and eyes with equally dark expressions, his brother was his opposite in nearly every way. The sun-kissed skin of his face was framed by soft gold curls. Turquoise eyes, the color of the sea stared at me with a penetrating intensity. His long gold lashes, carved cheekbones, and strong jaw made him look like he’d been created by an artist. Like some kind of divine creature set on destruction. Between Elias and David, this family had hit the genetic lottery.
I knew looks could be deceiving. While he might appear angelic, he was nothing of the sort. David was dangerous. If Elias was to be believed, I should be trembling right now.
I tensed, grabbing hold of the counter behind me. I knew I couldn’t fight him and win. And unless whatever that fire was had actually managed to injure that wolf, my rescue attempts were slim.
My only hope was to talk my way out of this.
David inhaled, as if smelling me.
The hair on my neck stood on end and I moved even closer to the counter, wrinkling my nose in disgust. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop thinking it and back the fuck off. This is your only warning: I bite.”
He smirked as he took a step back. “Thanks for the warning. If I’m in the mood for something spicy, I’ll keep you in mind. But now’s not the time.”
“Yeah, never going to happen, asshole.” I glared at him. “If you’re after the stone, you had a hand in my best friend’s death. I will see justice served and I won’t stop until everyone involved is dead.”
“That sounds more like vengeance than justice,” he said.
“Same thing sometimes,” I said. “I doubt anyone would care if you were gone.”
“That hurts, you don’t even know me,” he said with a mock pouty face.
“What do you want?” I asked again through gritted teeth.
“First, I didn’t kill your friend,” he said. “I’m not the only one after the stone and they arrived before me.”
“That changes nothing,” I said. “If it had been you, the blood would just as easily be on your hands.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “But we’ll never know.”
“If it wasn’t you, who was it?” I asked.