Love and Decay, Kane's Law by Rachel Higginson Page A

this was a
trick, but she seemed genuinely blinded for a moment- and that was
a feeling I could relate to. Her shoulders sagged and her arms
twitched uncomfortably.
    My father approved, I had complete control of
her now. Given all that, the handcuffs seemed a little extreme.
    I turned her around and let my fingers trail
down her forearms. Her skin was so perfect, so utterly untainted.
She didn’t seem to fit into the same world I lived in. She was a
puzzle piece from a different jigsaw, but I would make her fit in
here. I would find a place for her.
    I unlocked her handcuffs and slipped them
into my back pocket. Her hands fell to her side and as the blood
slowly returned to her fingertips she wiggled them until they moved
a little more steadily.
    She whirled around and pinned me with a
glare, “If you hurt them, I will kill you.”
    I felt that annoying need to smile again, so
I deflected with some sarcastic humor, “So many threats.” I lifted
my gaze from her wiggling fingers and fell into the dark brown
depths of her rich, enchanting eyes. In that moment there was a
transfer of power so affecting I felt my knees buckle. She held it
all, she’d taken it from me… stolen it. I knew that I was a
possessive person, plagued by the need to control, the overwhelming
desire to govern everything around me. But now, in this infinite
minute while Reagan held me in her gaze, it was her that possessed
me. And not the other way around.
    When I came back to myself, regained some of
my scattered senses and shook off the perplexity of this girl, I
felt the immediate need to raise my defenses and protect what was
left of me. “If you hurt me, I will kill them,” I told her. She
blanched at my threat but even I didn’t understand everything it
encompassed. Hurt me how? Physically, of course. Emotionally? Did
she hold that power? Yes. She did. And if she could wound me deeper
than the skin, than how strong was her reign over me. I’d known her
a few hours.
    I’d spoken with her barely at all.
    This couldn’t be healthy.
    But I hadn’t been healthy for years now. I
could be honest with myself about that. And instead of her feeding
the sickness that coiled around my bones and sunk into my nerves
and veins, she seemed to soothe those dark pieces of me, heal the
damaged, suffocating parts that I wanted to pretend didn’t
exist.
    “Why are you doing this?” she asked- sounding
truly scared for the first time today.
    My jaw clenched in frustration and I
swallowed back a biting remark. I was experiencing something real
and authentic between us and she cowered in fear of me? Didn’t she
understand what it meant for us to meet each other? Didn’t she
understand that both of our lives had collided into this necessary
moment in time and now our paths were drastically altered? Couldn’t
she see what I offered her? How much I would give up to keep her
safe? To keep her with me?
    I stalked past her, too angry to give her a
calm answer. “You need to stay by my side,” I threw over my
shoulder. With her I knew I needed to hammer in the point, so I
added, “At all times.”
    She hurried to catch up with me and her
immediate obedience soothed some of my furious edges.
    I led her through town, knowing the sight of
a functioning society would be a shock to her. But I hoped it also
quieted some of her fears. This place was not just better than the
road, it was better than anything else out there. We weren’t the
society we’d left behind before the infection, but we managed. And
lived like kings compared to the rest of the world. She’d be a fool
not to see that.
    I noticed her gawking at the rooftop guards.
“If you try to run, Reagan, they will shoot you.” She needed to
understand our settlement and what we expected of her. Although, I
left out what my father would do to her if they didn’t shoot her,
if they caught her instead and my father had time to pass judgment
on her. She would view the hallway trophy cases in an