I grunted as the wind was driven from my lungs and she pressed her advantage, rolling us with a sharp thrust and locking her hand around my throat as she shoved me down onto the mat beneath her.
Her grip tightened and I threw my fist into the inside of her elbow, forcing her to buckle forward before catching her waist, flipping us over and locking her beneath me with my hips.
She fought like a wild animal, her fists pounding into my ribs and sending pain scattering through my body.
I grunted as I scrambled to catch hold of her wrists and the moment I did, I used pure force to pin them to the mat above her head.
She wriggled wildly beneath me, but with my hold on her wrists and my weight driving her down into the mat, she was immobilised.
“Fuck,” she spat, panting heavily and I offered her a smile.
“You’re not done yet,” I pointed out. “At this point you’d want to headbutt me hard enough to break my nose. I’d rear away from you, you strike at my balls and then a solid throat punch the moment I flinch enough for you to get a hand free. Besides, if you’d been holding a knife like you were that night, all of those punches you dealt me could have been stabs.”
“But they weren’t,” she hissed, her blue eyes blazing with shame for a moment before she blinked it away. “When he caught me, even when he got me on the ground, there was a part of me which didn’t want to use that knife. To strike a deadly blow-”
“Don’t beat yourself up because you hesitated to kill someone,” I growled. “That just means you’re a good person. Not that you’re weak.”
“But what if it happens again? What if I’m overpowered like I am now and I hesitate to make the killing blow, and-”
“You won’t hesitate,” I promised, knowing she needed to hear this over pretty reassurances that it wouldn’t happen again. “You know what it takes to survive now. If there’s a next time, you’ll be ready.”
“I can’t sleep at night, worrying that I’m not really as strong as I think I am. That even my training isn’t enough to-”
“It’s not your skills that need any help. It’s your bloodlust, you need to trust in that darkness inside of you to keep you alive. That’s what makes you a survivor. How much sleep have you lost feeling guilty for killing that asshole?” I demanded.
Tatum hesitated, like she was afraid to voice the truth to me. “None,” she breathed. “I think about it and I try to feel guilt, remorse, pity…but whenever I remember the way it felt to drive that blade into him I just feel…relieved.”
My lips curled into a smile as she admitted that and I couldn’t deny the twisted part of me which loved that answer. She was as ruthless as me, maybe even as bloodthirsty too…
“Tell me how much you want to make the Night Keepers pay,” I urged in a low voice, wanting to know if she planned on honing that merciless part of her into a weapon she could use to strike at them or not.
She shifted beneath me and my heart pounded as I kept her pinned there, liking the view way too much but unable to pull back.
“I’m going to make them beg for mercy before the end,” she hissed. “I’m going to make a list of each and every way they’ve hurt me and make them pay the price for all of it. And I’ll use every weapon I’ve got at my disposal to bring them down.”
The venom in her tone sent desire rushing through me and as she shifted beneath me again I was sure she could feel just how hard I was for her, but I still couldn’t force myself back. It might as well have been me who was pinned to the mat, my deceitful body aching with need as I kept her there at my mercy.
All this talk of revenge was better than any dirty talk I could imagine, her words making direct contact with my libido and making me want her more than ever.
“They want me to become the fourth Night Keeper,” I admitted. “They want me all in with them. But-”
“Do it,” she growled, the rise and fall of her chest coming faster as her eyes lit at the idea. “We can take them down together from the inside out.”
There had been a thousand objections, protests and sound reasons for me to reject their offer up until that moment. But as I looked into the eyes of the girl they’d wronged and saw that familiar thirst for vengeance dancing within them, I realised that none of them mattered. All that mattered was taking those boys down, serving their heads up on a silver platter for her and bowing at her feet as she bathed in their blood. If she wanted to achieve that goal with my help then I was willing. She could have me, to help, use or abuse. I found I didn’t even mind which. If she wanted me then I was all in. I’d already killed for her once, so there was no denying the lengths I’d go to to protect her.
“Alright,” I agreed. “I’ll accept their offer. And I look forward to spilling more blood at your side.”
The smile she gave me was bright and filled with her desire for vengeance; it was beautiful in a damaged, twisted, fucked up kind of way. And in that moment, I knew that she had me in her grasp. I couldn’t deny the pull I felt to claim her, even if I knew I couldn’t act on it. But I could do this for her. I could walk into hell at
