Chapter 8:
………..
I ran.
Not toward the door—Rafe was still standing in the hallway, and I could feel Kael's eyes on me from the study—but toward the windows. Toward the city. Toward air.
"Elena—" Alaric started.
I didn't let him finish.
I bolted.
The penthouse was a maze, but I didn't care. I found a staircase. Took it two steps at a time. Found another hallway. Another door. Another staircase.
And then—an elevator.
I hit the button. The doors opened. I stepped inside. Hit ground floor.
The doors closed.
I was alone.
The elevator hummed. My heart pounded. The mark on my neck burned—not painful, not exactly, just insistent—like it was trying to pull me back upstairs.
I pressed my hand against it.
"Stop," I whispered. "Just—stop."
It didn't stop.
The elevator doors opened.
I
