Siren Awakened - C.R. Jane Page 0,46

the items he’d brought me, and I wasn’t sure if they were in response to what he might have heard me say or just gifts. “How do you know it’s not just coincidence?”

“My parents gifted him to me to try and calm my dark urges as a pet or something. I laughed so hard that they thought a mouse could tame me. But turned out he was no ordinary critter. He apparently has some magic in his heritage. He understands so much more than people realize.”

“Wow. And you brought him to a prison?”

“Felt sorry for the guy at home alone, restless, running through the whole house without something to do. Here, he has the run of the place. Plus, everyone knows not to hurt him or I’ll rip out their throats. It’s a fair arrangement.”

And he wasn’t even kidding on that part.

“Do your parents know about…about the thing inside you?” I whispered, feeling unsure what to call it.

“He’s part of my soul, maybe my familiar,” he answered. “My father was a human, and my mother a demon, so I guess I’m the result of such a match.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair, though the longer strands just swept back over his brow from his movement. Everything about him hypnotized me, which was so unfair, considering everything he was capable of, yet my body betrayed me over and over when it came to Keon.

He reached out and took my wrist, drawing me closer to him. “Now what brings you to me? You’ve been avoiding me for so long, it drove me to insanity.” He leaned in close, his breath brushing my cheek, warming my ear. “You missed me, didn’t you?”

Heat flared across my chest at the dirty intentions dancing in his flirty tone.

But there was still so much unsaid and broken between us that I couldn’t let myself fall for his charm that easily. He had killed me, so how was I supposed to process that?

Sure, accidents happen, but this was something else. I’d seen him fight, heard Alaric confirm the same. Keon had control issues with his demonic side.

“Keon,” I whispered. “You lost control and killed me. Have you killed this way before?”

He looked at me, a frown morphing over his brow but his fingers around my wrist don’t loosen. “Do I scare you?”

“That demon side of you terrifies me.” I refused to stop hiding, and maybe the solution had been to speak to him directly, as I knew he had no intention of leaving me alone. The inked stars on my ankle from each time we’d gotten close were proof that our connection wasn’t going anywhere.

“We should talk about this somewhere else,” he suggested.

I nodded and my heart raced with anticipation of needing to be upfront with him. “I know where we can go.” I patted my pocket with Laz’s key. I had collected it from my other clothes and taken the key with me, a part of me wanting to go back outside and experience natural light and the cool breeze on my face after my shift.

He kept his eyes on me the entire time. There was something unnerving about how carefully he studied me, as though I might change my mind and run from him. There had never been anyone in my life who personified a stalker more than Keon, and part of me was all right with that. But the monster inside him, I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with.

Everything about him screamed an animalistic, testosterone-filled man, who let raw instinct rule him. I’d seen it in his actions, in his eyes.

“Lead the way,” he said, and I took the lead toward the stairs, where we merged into the throng of inmates. Normally, I was invisible to them. They bumped into me, shoved me, but with Keon, they parted, respecting him.

By the time we reached the far end of this building, I wondered what would happen if we crossed paths with Alaric or Laz. I didn’t want a fight either. I kept scanning the hallways as we traveled until we reached the small passage Laz had shown me. Before long, we were standing outside and once again the sky was bruised gray with clouds and no sign of the sun. Quickly, I shut the door behind us and locked it.

“How do you know about this spot, and who gave you the key?” Keon asked, staring at me when I turned to face him. The wind blew his dark hair off his face, tugging at