But that wasn’t the point.

The point was to attempt to flee—to create a scene, to hopefully get the police involved.

To let people know I’m still alive and ready to go home.

Beneath the scintillating idea of running, guilt slowly bubbled.

Guilt at leaving without a thank you or explanation that it wasn’t him I ran from but the captivity he wanted to keep me in. Regret at leaving whatever connection had budded between us.

He freed you from agony. He killed Tony and broke Alrik into pieces ready for you to deliver the finishing bullet.

I bounced on the balls of my feet.

So what?

Yes, he’d helped me. Yes, I would always be grateful. But he’d done it for his own gain, not mine. When Tony had bashed in the door with a baseball bat and Alrik pressed a gun to my temple, he’d almost let them kill me.

He’d contemplated it far longer than someone who didn’t have darkness in their soul would.

Strangers milled around me, their soft conversation threading with my thoughts in a wash of deliberation.

Go.

You might not get another chance.

But then Elder turned.

His elegant body twisted to face me, his eyes latching onto mine down the street. Enough metres separated us that I could still run. I’d get a decent head start.

Go…

The command whispered with authority, surging down my leg.

Elder froze as my left foot moved backward, deciding it wanted to gamble on running, that it wanted freedom.

His lips pressed into a thin line. He didn’t move, but he knew. He knew I was moments away from bolting. Instead of moving to face me fully, to prepare to chase, he merely rolled his shoulders and dug one hand into his jeans pocket.

The other, he brought up, rubbed his mouth, then splayed it open; encapsulating the busy market around us, the steaming sunshine, and the wide-open world I could disappear into.

He gave me his approval.

And then he waited to see what I would do.

My body swayed backward, taking pressure off my right foot to join my left in retreat. However, as the sandal disengaged from the hot concrete, I stumbled forward instead.

Despite every instinct yanking me down the street and into the cobblestone alley to a sanctuary I didn’t know, I found myself walking to the beast I was beginning to understand.

Step after step, I waged war on my decision. Step after step, Elder’s face tightened as his arm fell to his side, patiently waiting.

It took a year and a day or perhaps only a second, but I reached his side, and my mind quietened all thoughts of running as he smiled. “Why didn’t you?”

I don’t know.

I dropped my head to our grimey feet.

His hand came up, then paused. His shadow on the pavement resembled the bat I’d so often been struck with; I couldn’t stop my body from cowering. My mind knew the chances of abuse were slimmer every moment I spent in Elder’s company. But my muscles didn’t speak the language of my heart and only saw a slayer ready to maim.

He hesitated with his hand outstretched between us.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to look up. The second my eyes met his, his hand connected with my chin, keeping my head high and at his mercy.

His jaw worked as he sorted through the words he wanted to spend. “I don’t know why you didn’t run. But I’ll tell you now, you made the right choice.” Stepping closer, his nostrils flared as my lips parted.

The attraction and almost kiss of before sprang feverish and unrequited. His fingers tightened on my jaw. “I wanted to see what you would do. If you’d run, you wouldn’t have gone far. Do you believe me?” His eyes searched mine. “I lied this morning when I said I wouldn’t chase after you. I’d chase until you gave up. I can’t let you go yet, Pim. But today has been about choices for you, and you needed to make that for yourself. Run or come to me, the outcome would’ve been the same.”

He bowed his head, his mouth tickling my ear. “You would’ve been back on the Phantom whether you liked it or not. Don’t torture yourself wondering what could’ve happened if you had run. This is what would’ve happened because there is no other choice for us.”

Letting me go, he growled. “The moment we met, our choices were stolen from us. Yours because I’ve decided to control your fate. And mine because you’ve decided to deny me what I want.” He bared his teeth. “One of these days, I’ll know who you are. You will answer my every question, and you will let me inside your mind. It’s an inevitability, not a choice, Pim. You might as well get used to that.”

I sucked in a breath as he let me go.

Berating me with his black gaze, he added, “In the meantime, let me return the favour. Allow me to show you who I am, so there is no doubt to what I expect.”

My blood scurried faster. I didn’t know how he planned to show me, but tension glimmered in the air around us, pregnant with promise.

Squirming bodies of a Chinese tour group suddenly engulfed the busy streets. They descended on the sidewalk in matching baseball hats and named lanyards.

Elder dodged to the left, forcing me to go to my right to let the two-by-two crowd slip past.

He never took his eyes off me as if expecting me to run again.

His voice kept repeating in my head, activating fear and the slightest hint of a threat. It had been a threat but unlike any I’d had before.

I’d chase until you gave up.

At the core of that was a promise to never let me go. The primal part of me liked it more than loathed it.