The Predator (Dark Verse #1)

by RuNyx

scare me," she reminded him in the ...

"Don't think," he started, his eyes hardening, "that if I have the chance, I won't kill you." "But that's the thing, Mr. ...

A walking, talking Mission Impossible, that's what he was.

"One day, I'm going to carve your heart out and keep it as a souvenir. I promise."

"You assume I have a heart, wildcat."

She also knew they would fail, because catching Morana Vitalio when she didn't want to be caught was something a very rare few could do. And that was also a reason why she hated him.

Because he'd somehow always put her at a disadvantage when she hadn't wanted to be, put her in positions that had underlined just how much control he'd had over their bodies while she had floundered for it.

She'd been raised around sharks. And she'd learned not to bleed.

But she hated him because he had bled. Because he'd thrown her off guard. Because he'd done something she'd never believed he would do. Because he made her react not like Morana Vitalio but someone else.

"Let me be honest with you, Morana," Dante spoke,

"I have nothing personal against you, so as long as you don't threaten or hurt me or my people, we can work along just fine."

"Same goes for you." "Good,"

"May I ask why you refused to work with Tristan?"

"May I ask what's going on between you and Amara?"

"Courage takes only a second to become foolishness," he said quietly, his dark eyes alert. "Keep that in mind."

"Heed your own advice,"

"They'd both been so angry, not just because I had been theirs but because violating a woman is something they both truly abhor. They've always been protective of women and children. Which is why what happened tonight was not ordinary."

"No one else gets to kill you, Ms. Vitalio," he spoke quietly. "The last face you see before you die will be mine. When it comes to death, you're mine."

"You're not afraid of death?"

"You learn not to be afraid when it sleeps under your roof every day."

"Since you cannot seem to grasp it, I'll spell it out for you, father. I am not a dog you think you can leash. I'm an independent woman, and if I say I'm not returning tonight, that's it. I know it’s not out of care that you ask." "Your independence is an illusion I've let you sustain, Morana,"

"My apartment is two floors down. I know you said you didn't want to work with him, so if you'd like you can stay there for tonight. I won't be home and it will be empty."

"She stays here," he growled. Growled.

"My sister loved the rain."

Not just because it was something supremely private he'd shared with her, but because of the deep, deep love she could hear in his tone.

"I didn't know you had a sister,"

"I don't anymore."

"My mother loved the rain." A pause. "I thought you had a mother." A familiar knot constricted her throat. "I don't anymore."

In that moment, the man who'd claimed her death had given her a glimpse of life by doing something he probably didn't even realize he'd done.

He had made her feel a little less lonely.

"You're incredibly brave, you know,"

"Tristan is an intimidating man, all on his own. And he goes out of his way to intimidate you more. The fact that you spent the night alone at his house tells

me a lot about you. Although being the only child of a man as reputed as your father... I don't know why I'm surprised. You're strong. I admire that."

“That man is territorial about his space. Very territorial. I once entered his room without knocking, he almost glared the life out of me!"

She had entered his room without permission yesterday.

Except he hadn't glared. He'd be...

"Tristan doesn't allow people into his space. Everyone who knows him knows that."

"Then why did he let me, of all people, stay here?"

"It's curious, isn't it?"

"Touch me again, and I will break your fingers."

"I asked for one simple thing,"

"I told you to stay away from me. You agreed. You gave me your word. Then why is it that I find you everywhere I turn? I'm warning you, right now, I won't give a damn about the codes. You all can die for all I care. You. Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me."

"I will stay away when I want to," he whispered. "Not because you or anyone else tell me to. But I've never forced a woman, and I won't now."

"We've been honest so far, Ms. Vitalio," he murmured. "I'll be honest now. I despise you but I want you. Fuck it, I do. And I want you out of my system."

"You need to make a decision."

Tristan Caine was inside. Behind her. She wanted him inside her.

Morana closed her eyes, raising her free hand to the top corner of the wooden door. And she locked it. Decision made.

It was basic, primitive, carnal. It was heated, wild, insane. But it was making her scream against his hand and see stars behind her closed eyelids.

"Not as experienced as you wanted me to believe, Ms. Vitalio,"

"Break his arm next time,"