Nazreen

Chapter Fifteen

Nazreen couldn't breathe. She couldn't think straight.

Through the dark, all she saw was the hunter. He dropped his daggers to the ground and started towards her, slow and careful.

Chest lifting and falling rapidly, she scanned his face. Dots of blood bathed his smooth skin. He was covered in it.

He came closer with every passing second.

"Nazreen—"

She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut, shrinking as far back as the tree would allow her.

She knew he'd stopped walking. The quiet shuffle of the leaves stopped.

Would he kill her now too?

Now that she'd seen his true colours?

Now that she knew what he was hiding?

He was a deadly hunter. Murderous. He killed without hesitation. Even Annaliese stopped to give it some thought. But not him. He killed without mercy.

And now he'd kill her too.

"Nazreen," He murmured softly, barely audible. But she heard it. Her ears were pricked, her body trembling with a terrified tension.

He started closer again.

"You're scared of me," He noted, almost sounding pained.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. How could it? One wrong step and there was no telling what he'd do. How he'd hurt her. Nazreen didn't cope very well with pain.

If he hurt her...

She sensed him nearing. She could feel his proximity. She could feel his closeness.

She knew when he lifted a hand to the tree she quivered before, directly beside her head.

Oh God. Right now, she was the sole focus of this man's attention. She was the prey. He'd said it himself. If you gave him prey, he'd kill it.

He was the cat and she was the mouse. He'd been playing with his find. Now, he'd finish her off.

I'm not ready to die.

"Nazreen?" She flinched when his other hand fell to her waist. The very same hand that had just decapitated those vampires. The same hand he'd just used to kill. "Open your eyes, snowflake."

He pulled back, but this wasn't the same as when they'd been in the lake.

This time, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter.

She could feel his disappointment.

It was palpable.

"Nazreen," He murmured, softer than ever. "I won't ever hurt you."

How was she supposed to believe that? When she'd seen all of that, how could she believe him? How could he go from being so aggressive to gentle? It wasn't plausible.

He pressed his forehead to hers, willing her to open her eyes. But she didn't. She couldn't. Timid little Nazreen didn't have it in her.

She was afraid.

"I promise, snowflake." Her heart took a beating. "I won't let you melt."

They stood like that for a decade. A century. A lifetime.

She dreaded what would happen when she opened her eyes. Would he walk away? Would they both walk away? She didn't understand how they could walk away from this. How they could go back to coexisting as if this had never happened.

As if she'd never seen what his hand could do.

How could he possibly be gentle with her after this?

It was slow, so very painfully slow. It was softer than anything she'd ever felt before.