A loud click sounded, and every hair on my body stood on end as I shot my gaze left and right. Where the hell was he?

The house looked the same as it had last time. Still barely any furniture and anything that was here was covered in sheets. No lamps, and when I reached out and flipped the switch on the wall, the old light fixture hanging above did nothing.

Dust clotted the floors, but when I stepped farther in, I noticed some particles floating in the air. Like someone had been here and disturbed it.

I looked around, hyperaware. “Kai?”

The wind outside kicked up, and I heard screeching from above. Like a branch scraping against a window pane.

“Kai!” I called again, louder this time. “Where are you?”

My hip vibrated, and I realized it was my phone. Digging it out, I swiped the screen and looked at the message.

Close.

I whipped around, back and forth, shooting my eyes everywhere, trying to see where he was. I walked into the living room and then the dining room, scanning corners and behind doors.

“What the hell?” I growled.

I couldn’t see anything. No shadow, no form, and I couldn’t hear anything, either. The house was completely silent.

“I’m not playing your games!” I yelled up the stairs.

My phone buzzed again.

You already are.

I shook my head. What did he think he was doing? A little sick fun?

Of course, I remember Kai’s version of fun. Devil’s Night six years ago. The hotel, the chase, the ballroom, the drapes…the fear.

I didn’t mind how it excited me that night, but I wasn’t in the mood now.

“I’m leaving,” I shouted to the empty air.

And turning around, I twisted the door knob again.

But it wouldn’t turn. What? I jiggled the handle, pulling at it, the door pounding against the frame as I yanked.

A green light blinked to my left, and I looked at the wall, spotting a keypad. My stomach sank. He had an alarm system and automated locks.

I yanked on the door again, it still not opening.

I spun around. “I want out!” I told him. “Or I’m kicking out a window!”

Another text popped up.

You said I wasn’t scary. Are you scared yet?

I looked up to the second floor. “I’m annoyed.”

Liar.

Asshole.

I heard a creak from above me, and I shot my eyes up again. The wind was howling through the trees outside, and I was very alone right now.

With him somewhere in this house.

If you ask him not to hurt Damon, he won’t.

I wet my dry lips and forced out my words. “I need to talk to you.”

Find me.

“Where are you?” I called, staying rooted right where I was.

I waited several seconds, but no response came. No voice. No text. Was Kai even here? I mean, I didn’t know for sure that it was him texting, right? Someone could have stuffed his body in a furnace, taken his phone, and was now doing the creepy Saw thing where they ask you if you want to play a game, but really, you have no choice, so you play before you’re chopped up by a meat slicer in a slaughterhouse.

And there goes my imagination.

I squeezed my phone in my hand. “Where are you?” I yelled again.

Upstairs, came the text finally.

Jerk.

Fine. Fuck you, then. I stepped up the stairs. “If I have to find you, you’re going to bleed,” I said.

But then a text rolled in.

Getting warmer now.

I looked left to right, keeping alert as I slowly climbed the stairs. “Why are you doing this?”

But only a one word response came as I took another step. Warmer.

A cool sweat broke out across my forehead. The floorboards under my shoes creaked, as I reached the top of the stairs, looking right and seeing the bedroom door wide open. I could see the bottom of the bed and sheer white curtains blowing in the wind coming through the open window. I don’t think that was open the last time I was here. I couldn’t remember.

Instead, I turned right, heading for the other bedroom.

Cold.

I stopped, breathing hard. So, he was in the master bedroom. I couldn’t swallow.

Get a grip. He’s fucking with you.

Turning around, I headed back for the master.

My phone vibrated, and I looked down.

Can I tell you something else?

“What?” I growled low.

And the next text rolled in.

You’ll never leave this house.

My mouth fell open, I stopped breathing, and I couldn’t piece together one fucking coherent thought. Kai...

I spun around to bolt, but there he was. He stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in jeans, a black hoodie, and his silver skull mask.

I halted, rearing back as I gasped. “Wha…”

Everything was black. He was merely a shape. The dark clothes, the shroud of night, the black of his eyes…only the whites were visible, letting me know there was a man in there.

“Kai…” I held out my hands. Fuck, why couldn’t I think?!

A silvery tingle hit me low, and I clenched my thighs, suddenly feeling like I had to go to the bathroom.

He slowly stalked toward me, putting one foot in front of another, and I scrambled with shaking hands, snatching my blade out of my pocket.

“Back the fuck off!” I choked out, holding the blade in front of me.

But he just kept walking, each stop in perfect time, until I was against the wall, right outside the master bedroom.

He didn’t stop, and I darted out, growling. “I’m not scared of you.”

He cocked his head, his mask seeming to say “Oh, yes, you are.”

The space between us got smaller and smaller, and I lashed, trying to scare him. He grabbed my hand, though, and I cried out as he tore the blade from my fingers, flinging it off over the railing. I heard it clatter to the ground, somewhere downstairs.

Pinning my wrists to the wall at my sides, he pressed his body into mine and held me to the wall.

I sucked in air, short and fast, because my chest couldn’t expand with him on me like that.

And he just stayed there.

His head tilted down at me.

Watching me.

I couldn’t even hear him breathe. The only sound he was alive was the rise and fall of his chest against mine.

“What do you want with me?” I breathed out, sobs lodged in my throat.

What wasn’t he saying anything?

The house moaned around us as the wind kicked up again and whirred through the little cracks in the walls.

And I was just there. Alone, no one for miles, and a mask hovering over me and feeling like a knife at my throat.

Fuck, I was scared. Oh, God, oh, God…

Sweat broke out over my back, and heat spread down my legs where his body touched mine. Our thighs layered, one of his between both of mine, my chest becoming sensitive and aware of the heat of his body. His groin was pressed against mine and the pressure increased between us, even though we weren’t moving.

Fuck…

And I still couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe, because I was throbbing everywhere. My body was pulsing and heating, and I wanted to scream, bite, and…

Give in.

Why didn’t I want to run?

I let my head fall forward, into his chest, exhausted and hungry and wanting to dig my claws into something.

“I’m scared,” I whispered. “I’m scared of you even with your mask off.”

Because of everything you make me feel.

He didn’t move. Just held me there, his grip on my wrists loosening a little.

I looked up, speaking low as my lips brushed his mask. “I…” I didn’t know what to say.

Am I really just leverage in this cat and mouse game between you and Damon? Just a tool?

I mean, Rika was right, wasn’t she? He could’ve just taken me if that’s all it was about. He wanted me to choose him in that guest house.

He wanted me.

And I wanted him to know I had to make an impossible choice. But in my head, tucked away where I kept my secrets, it would always be him. Ten years…twenty years down the road I would watch him from a distance and see him build his life and be happy if he was happy.

I wanted him to know I loved our foreplay.

I wanted him to know I loved him.