Chapter 5

I gasped, lungs refusing to take in air. I slid down the wall, clutching my chest as the world tilted.

Kane was across the room in a heartbeat. He didn't walk; he blurred. One second he was by the door, and the next, his massive frame was looming over me, blotting out the light.

"What is this?" he snarled. The voice was a low vibration I felt in my teeth. He gripped my shoulder, hard enough to bruise. "What did they do to you?"

"I... I don't know," I choked out. I tried to shove him, but my arms felt like wet paper. "Silas... he said..."

"Silas? That little rat?"

Kane's eyes flared, the iris bleeding into a predatory gold. He didn't let go. Instead, he hauled me up by the arm, dragging me flush against him. My chest brushed the heavy fabric of his tunic.

He smelled of sandalwood, rain, and something metallic. Old blood. I should've been terrified, but as the heat in my blood spiked, I leaned in. It was instinctive. Primal.

"You're burning up," he muttered.

His palm slid from my shoulder to the nape of my neck.

The moment his skin touched mine, the roar in the room changed. Not my roar—his. I could feel it. The savage, jagged energy that usually radiated off him like a heat wave suddenly smoothed out.

Kane stiffened. His breath hitched.

"Stop it," he whispered. He didn't move. "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?" I gasped, my head lolling back against his arm. "I can't... I can't breathe..."

"Your touch," he groaned. He sounded pained, like I was carving something out of him. "It's too quiet. The noise in my head... it's just gone. Why is it gone?"

I couldn't answer. Another wave of toxin hit—a sharp, electric spike that made my back arch. I let out a broken sob and gripped his forearms, my nails digging into his skin. I didn't care that I was a "worthless outcast." I just wanted the pain to stop.

Kane let out a guttural sound—half growl, half moan.

He didn't push me away. He surged forward, pinning me against the wall with his full weight. He wasn't attacking; he was clinging. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling sharply. His hot breath sent shivers racing down my spine.

"You're not just a sacrifice," he muttered against my skin, voice ragged. "You're a goddamn drug."

"Let me go," I whispered. My fingers were already tangled in the dark hair at the back of his head. "Please..."

"Shut up."

He snapped it, but there was no bite. He shifted, lips grazing the sensitive skin just below my ear. My heart hammered against my ribs—not from the poison, but from the suffocating proximity of him.

He pulled back an inch, gold eyes searching mine. For the first time, the King didn't look like a monster. He looked broken. Like a man starving in a desert who'd finally found a drop of water.

"I hate this," he whispered. "I hate that I need this."

"Need what?"

"You."

It was a confession and a curse.

He stepped back abruptly, as if the realization burned him. The sudden loss of warmth made me shiver. The pain in my chest flared back, sharper than before. I slumped, knees giving out, but he caught me before I hit the floor.

He scooped me up in one motion and tossed me onto the silk sheets of the massive, fur-draped bed.

He stood over me, chest heaving, hands clenched into fists.

"Who gave you that poison?" the lethal edge was back. "The Council? Silas? Tell me now, or I'll go back out there and tear the throat out of every single person in this palace."

I blinked through the haze. "Silas... he just said I was a gift. I didn't know..."

"A gift." Kane spat the word. He laughed, a dark, humorless sound. "He didn't give me a girl. He gave me a ticking bomb. He wants me dependent on you, doesn't he? He wants the leash by controlling the only thing that keeps me sane."

I tried to sit up, but the dizziness hit. "I'm not a tool. I'm not..."

"You're exactly what I say you are."

He leaned down, face inches from mine, gaze locking onto the forced mark on my collarbone. "And right now, you're the only thing stopping me from painting this room red."

I stared at him, breath hitching. "So what now? You going to kill me to get rid of the dependency?"

Kane's expression shifted. The rage was still there, but beneath it was something darker. Possessive.

He reached out, his thumb brushing my lower lip with a slow, deliberate pressure that made my stomach flip.

"Kill you?" he murmured. "No. That would be a waste of a perfectly good sedative."

He stood straight, eyes narrowing toward the heavy oak doors. Footsteps echoed in the hallway—heavy, confident strides. I knew that walk.

"Get dressed," Kane commanded, voice cold as ice. "Now."

"Why?"

"Because your brother is back." A predatory smirk played on his lips. "And I think it's time we tell him exactly what his 'gift' is worth."

I scrambled for my clothes, heart racing. The poison was still simmering, a dull ache reminding me I was running out of time. But as I looked at Kane, I didn't just see the Savage King. I saw the only man who could stop the fire in my veins.

He flung the door open with a crash. Silas was standing there, smug, holding a scroll sealed with Council wax.

"My King," Silas purred, bowing. "I trust the girl is proving... useful?"

Kane didn't move. He didn't even look at the scroll. He just stepped aside, revealing me—pale, trembling, but alive.

"Useful?" Kane's voice was a low purr. "She's more than that, Silas. She's my new favorite addiction."

Silas's smirk flickered. He scanned my face for weakness. "I see. Perhaps the bond is stronger than anticipated."

"Oh, it's strong." Kane stepped closer to Silas, his presence suddenly suffocating. "So strong that I've decided she's no longer a guest in this palace."

Silas frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kane leaned in, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "I mean she's my property. And if you so much as breathe in her direction again, I'll show you exactly how 'savage' I can get."

Silas opened his mouth to respond, but a sharp pain exploded in my chest. I gasped, legs buckling, letting out a strangled cry as the poison spiked.

Kane's head snapped toward me, eyes flashing gold. He reached for me, but before he could touch me, the doors behind Silas burst open.

A squad of Council guards marched in, spears leveled.

"By order of the High Council," the lead guard shouted, "the girl is to be returned for immediate inspection!"

Kane froze. He looked at me, then the guards, then back to Silas. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face.

"Inspection?" Kane's voice vibrated with a hidden threat. "I think we'll start the inspection with your heads."