Let Me Out (For Me, #1)

by Nichole Severn

  “What’s your name?” Christian seemed amused, stepping closer.

  Adelaide couldn’t see his face but imagined Christian tried to intimidate the little addition to their party. She’d only ever seen a full-on threat from him once and never wanted to see it again. Pleasure flitted through her as the stranger’s tough exterior cracked slightly, his mouth open in surprise.

  “Vin.”

  “You have no idea what you’ve done, Vin.” Christian stepped back.

  The thug stood motionless, an expression of confusion spreading across his slightly Hispanic features. Seconds later, understanding followed and Vin’s face contorted into anger. He’d finally recognized the threat.

  Adelaide stepped into the line of fire, putting herself between him and Christian.

  Looking down at her, Vin remained unimpressed as he spoke. “Stay out of this, bitch.”

  Spectators glanced in their direction from around the ballroom.

  “I’m here for the property you took. Either you tell me where it is or . . .” Vin pulled Adelaide into his chest, her back pressed against him. His hand squeezed around her throat as onlookers gasped in disbelief. “Or I’ll start with her.” He wrenched her head to the right, licking a long line up the side of her neck, and watched for Christian’s reaction.

  Nobody touched her.

  The saliva ran down her neck, under her dress. He’d slobbered on her, but she hadn’t been given the order to attack. Yet.

  Adelaide wanted to get closer to this stranger, to feel the pulse of his heart through his chest and watch the light leave his eyes when she took his life.

  I like that idea, her delusion interrupted. I think that knife would even be a very nice addition to our collection.

  “I’d be careful if I were you.” Amusement tinted Christian’s words, but Adelaide wasn’t the only one who didn’t like someone touching her.

  Revealing the knife he’d been holding, Vin raised his right hand above his head, ready to strike.

  The crowed scattered.

  “Now,” Christian whispered.

  She had only a moment to catch her monster’s blazing eyes before Vin thrust down.

  Gasps filled the tense silence around the ballroom. Guests hadn’t been expecting a fight tonight, let alone a murder.

  The knife was no more than two inches away from Adelaide’s chest when she ducked, grabbing his wrist and spinning the blade into Vin’s torso.

  Christian released the breath he’d been holding, straightening his tie as he tried to compose the emotion spread across his face. His expression told her he’d been worried about her.

  Adelaide pulled the knife from Vin’s stomach slowly and turned in his arms to watch the changes in his expression, the pain.

  He blinked in surprise, his eyes lowering to hers.

  Ah, yes, her monster sighed, closing its eyes in pleasure. Don’t you miss this?

  No. She didn’t. The release Adelaide had been hoping for never came. She swallowed loudly, closing her eyes against the smile her monster gave her. She counted to five before she reopened them, pleased to see her delusion had gone back to wherever it’d come from, satisfied for the time being.

  Christian stepped forward, studying Vin with a disinterested expression of his own. “Pity.”

  Vin stumbled, lifting his hand as he tried to attack again, but Adelaide moved first.

  The custom-designed blade flew around the handles in her grip as she moved in for another attack. Swinging her arm backward and then out, she slid the blade across Vin’s throat without a second thought.

  It only took a few seconds for her prey to drop to his knees, his eyes open in fear, his hands clutched around his throat.

  Adelaide met his gaze, watching the light leave them slowly. She’d had no other choice, she told herself over and over. He would have killed her if she hadn’t countered the attack, but she reveled in the moment, licking her lips at the sight of his blood.

  The crowd gasped collectively, staring in shock as she wiped her blade clean with a white linen napkin, flipped it closed and shoved it into the sheath she’d attached to her leg.

  Christian only watched her from the corner of his eye, but addressed the guests. “Party’s over.” Wrapping his fingers around the inside of her elbow, he tugged Adelaide behind him as they left the ballroom quickly.

  Pulling her out the back entrance, Christian slammed the thick metal door against the brick. His hand moved to her forearm and Adelaide had a hard time keeping up with his pace.

  The dome of the building shadowed them from the moonlight. She kept her guard up in the dark but an attack from her own employer surprised her.

  Adelaide’s head rattled against the brick wall as Christian pressed against her, the breath in her lungs forced into the mild night air. Her vision turned blurry for a moment, but he didn’t give her time to adjust.

  Christian’s eyes glowed blue in the shadows, his expression raw and carnal.

  It scared her.

  His hair had come loose from the elastic, strands framing his strong cheekbones.

  Adelaide tried to focus on her breathing, unable to understand why she was nervous. She’d been through the routine hundreds of times but found herself holding her breath as his lips pressed against hers.

  The kiss felt soft and warm. Nothing like she’d expected from his expression.

  His hand lowered to her side, parting the slit in her dress. Christian’s mouth moved over hers rhythmically as he stroked her thigh with one hand and gripped her hair with the other.

  The amount of pain accompanying the gesture sent a jolt down her body. Adelaide felt every single strand of hair pulling away from her scalp. Inhaling deeply, she pulled his hot breath into her lungs, closing her eyes against the sight of him.

  Adelaide fought every instinct in her body to kill him where he stood, realizing nothing would be accomplished in killing him.

  “You were amazing in there,” he whispered against her lips and placed his hand around the back of her thigh. He pulled her leg up, wrapping her calf around his backside. Her dress tore at the effort and he pulled away with a smile on his face. “I know you hate these dresses.” He kissed down her neck. “But they do make a hell of an aphrodisiac.”

  Adelaide lost focus in her own thoughts. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want this world to be real. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as the breath leaving her lungs became the only sound she heard. The pain she’d felt before slipped away, Christian’s warmth against her lips and his hand trailing farther up her dress a distant reality. Coaxing her monster forward, to take over, Adelaide couldn’t feel a thing.

  But something seemed different.

  She wasn’t alone.

  She could feel it, sense it with every fiber of her being.

  Adelaide opened her eyes.

  Christian’s touch became softer, turning into a different pressure completely. His hair shortened right in front of her, his eyes dulling from their dark blue to the bright color of the sky. His cheekbones softened and his frame grew taller.

  Marcus stood in front of her, caressing her leg, pulling her lips into his mouth. He stood there, as real as the bricks supporting her body.

  A smile crossed her face, but Adelaide knew it wasn’t hers. The monster had pushed itself out, eating Marcus alive with its gaze. She licked her lips hungrily. Her fingernails dug into his skin through the heavy suit without Adelaide’s permission and he pulled back. Her hand slid to the knife sheath at her leg, her fingers groping for the blade she wanted to swipe across his throat.

  The monster didn’t want Marcus.

  Adelaide fought, grinding her teeth together as she tried to bring her head forward.

  You wanted me, her thoughts told her. And now you have me.

  She struggled to move, but the monster had become too strong. It had complete control over her body, and in that instant fear electrified every nerve in her body, fear for her life and for Marcus’s.
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br />   “Adelaide,” a voice said.

  The sound of passing cars filled her ears. In the next moment, Marcus disappeared and only Christian remained.

  Struggling to breathe and dizzy from the episode, she pulled out of his grasp, pushing herself away from him. Adelaide thought she’d known what she was doing, but the monster had gotten stronger, taking over.

  You didn’t let me finish, her monster snapped, eager to be free.

  A sharp pain shot through her head, a reminder of what it could do to Adelaide if her delusion wanted revenge.

  “Adie?” Christian’s tone made her name a question and she froze.

  He hadn’t wanted to stop.

  She turned back, forcing her eyes to meet his. She tried to push the fire left from the monster out of her gaze but wasn’t sure her attempt had succeeded.

  Christian explored her body with his gaze and cautiously stepped toward her again. “Come here.”

  Another command to obey.

  Muffled sirens grew louder. Somebody had called the cops for her little show inside.

  Forcing one foot in front of the other, Adelaide listened to the click of her heels against the pavement. Her vision swam, transforming the man in front of her to the man she wanted most.

  “Adie?” he said, but the voice sounded wrong.

  Christian spoke to her again, waiting for her response.

  The wind tickled her skin and swept her hair into her face. She’d rather have pulled it back, out of the way, but Christian had made sure she’d looked presentable for the event tonight.

  “You’re shaking.” He stepped closer to her, wrapping his hands around her biceps. He reached into his jacket pocket and Adelaide knew exactly what he searched for. “Don’t move,” he warned.

  He seemed ready for her to run, to fight back, but Adelaide wanted the injection. The remnants of her monster were obviously still present from his reaction, but then suddenly she only had one thought in her head: escape.

  It wasn’t her thought.

  Nothing mattered anymore. She didn’t care she’d become unstable, that she didn’t have enough medication or money. Anything would be better than a life of blurry memories and orders. She wanted free rein. She wanted to hunt.

  “I know, Adie,” he said, revealing the syringe in his hand. “But it’s for the best. It’s best for us all.”

  Adelaide shook her head. She understood his reasoning and agreed. She wanted the injection.

  No! A sharp pain drilled through her head, bringing her to her knees. Adelaide’s hands moved of their own accord, attempting to squeeze the pain into submission through her head. Her monster swirled into her vision, kneeling next to her. Do it.

  “Adie!”

  Christian’s voice seemed too far away.

  She couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t make the pain stop. She couldn’t do what the monster wanted her to.

  Adelaide couldn’t do this anymore.

  Do it!

  A different kind of pain brought her back to reality.

  Christian had moved fast, emptying the syringe before she could take another breath.

  She wrapped her hands around his, the needle protruding from her body. Pulling the syringe out slowly, Adelaide watched the needle grow longer as it left a trail of blood behind. It would take a few seconds for the drug to kick in, but for now her senses blazed, her mind lost to her worst enemy. She moved faster than he ever could. Gripping the base of the syringe, she twisted the needle around and plunged it into Christian’s neck.

  Bull’s-eye. Her monster smiled proudly.

  It’d been a long time since Adelaide had given in to her darker side. The monster wanted more and she’d lost the strength to fight back.

  Her frustration, disappointment and anger flowed through the needle and into his body. Christian had held her captive for far too long. She had her chance to run, but Adelaide couldn’t move. Her limbs wouldn’t obey and she realized the sedative had taken effect.

  He’d drugged her with more than the normal dose.

  Christian stood motionless, shocked. His lips parted, his breath leaving his lungs loudly. The needle stuck directly out of the left side of his neck and she realized a line of clear liquid had been pinched between the needle and the stopper inside.

  She’d drugged him in return.

  Oops, her delusion giggled. I knew you couldn’t do it. You’ve always been weak without me. You need me.

  Adelaide watched as her monster slowly evaporated into thin air, leaving her and Christian completely alone.

  He reached up to extract the needle from his neck. “What were you planning, Adie?” Pulling the syringe out of his neck easily, he smiled.

  Adelaide noted a small drop of blood drip down onto his white-collared shirt. She wondered if he knew what he’d done to her, what kind of animal he kept behind closed doors. She hadn’t planned on stabbing him, hadn’t planned on letting him down.

  Or maybe she had.

  She stared at him as her body went numb.

  Dropping the needle onto the cement, Christian chuckled. “There wasn’t anything left.” With no warning, the back of his hand slammed into the right side of her face.

  She fell flat against the cement, unable to hold herself upright. The sight of blood dripping onto the pavement startled her. Her blood. The drops looked black in the night against the white of the sidewalk. Adelaide touched her face lightly, unaware of the pain, only the pressure.

  He’d never hit her before.

  “You’ve never attacked me before,” he explained, reading the confusion on her face. “And you will never do it again, Adelaide.”

  She listened as his footsteps receded down the sidewalk. She lay motionless, shocked by the outcome of the night. She rolled onto her side. Her face throbbed in time with her heartbeat as she held it gently, staring into the night sky. The gash along her cheek would stop bleeding in a few seconds, but internally her scars would never heal.

  The look on Christian’s face had been unrecognizable. She didn’t know the person who’d hit her, but knew one thing for sure: she’d kill him before he laid another hand on her, for pleasure or pain.

  Chapter Fourteen

  They ran for the exits at full steam, having lost track of Christian and Adelaide during their search.

  Marcus let his anger drift off from his body with every step. They hadn’t found anything in William Roberts’s safe. The entire vault had been emptied.

  Someone had beaten them to it.

  Marcus and Taigen pushed their way through the side doors but froze in disbelief as they found Adelaide on the pavement.

  “Adie?” Taigen asked, running to her side instantly.

  Marcus searched for signs of a struggle, for any evidence of where Christian went. No trail of blood, no clue as to where he might have gone. Wren had never left her alone, but it looked as if he’d simply walked away of his own volition.

  Pulling Adelaide into his arms, Taigen lifted her limp form from the pavement. “She has a fresh needle mark and a gash in her face.” He turned back toward Marcus, confusion written all over his face. “Christian would never leave her like this. Something’s wrong. Maybe—”

  “Take her back to the house. I’ll meet you there,” Marcus interrupted. So much had gone wrong. Anxiety reached its cold fingers up his throat. Someone else may have gotten to his target before he could. His instincts told him he needed to find Christian as soon as possible. This was his case. Wren was his prey and he would not submit to anyone else.

  * * *

  Christian slammed the car into gear. He didn’t know where he was going and it didn’t matter. He didn’t know who he was. He’d never hit Adelaide before. In shock, upset and disappointed all at the same time, he pressed his fingers against the small puncture wound in his neck.

  He’d overreacted.

  The night sky made the SUV almost pitch black inside, only the city’s streetlamps filtering through the tinted windows.

  He p
ressed the accelerator down, pushing the car faster down the streets of Los Angeles. His vision began to blur around the edges. The streetlamps looked like halos and Christian wondered if Adelaide had the same side effects from the serum.

  Thinking of her alone, on the sidewalk, he slammed on the brakes, lurching forward as the car came to a complete stop.

  The cars behind him screeched to a halt, some swerving to avoid a collision as he looked into the rearview mirror.

  He ignored their reactions.

  The screaming and horn honking reaching his ears didn’t register as he put the SUV in reverse. Berating himself for his callousness, Christian blinked against the bright headlights coming straight at him.

  “I left her,” he muttered quietly.

  The anger he felt shifted inward, eating him from the inside as he flipped the car around. His breathing grew labored, his hands tingling like a thousand tiny needles. Flexing them, he stared down curiously. His legs started to follow, stinging with each push on the accelerator.

  He shook his head, trying to eliminate the drowsiness taking over. Just two more minutes, he told himself. Lowering the driver’s-side window, Christian inhaled the mild night air slowly. His awareness faltered, but he knew if he could make it just two more blocks he’d be able to see the parking lot of the building.

  The impact jolted him as another car slammed head-on with his. Christian’s head hit the steering wheel, metal screeching and screaming as the two vehicles relaxed seconds later.

  Everything came to a halt.

  His ears rang. Blood blinded him and his body ached where the seat belt had dug in. Christian tried to move but couldn’t get his limbs to obey. He couldn’t feel the tiny pinpricks of numbness in his arms and legs anymore and wondered if the sedative had finally worn off. He’d only been injected with a few drops but had been fully incapacitated. He didn’t know how Adelaide’s immune system had lasted so long against the volatile drug and he didn’t envy her the repercussions.

  The sound of footsteps echoed inside the car as Christian tried to push back from the steering wheel. Speaking became too great an effort and he could only hope the arrival of another person on the scene would help.