"Leave me," Ella rasped, her voice brittle as frost. "Can you not see that I'm a monster?"
The word monster hung in the air between them like smoke that refused to clear.
Adam's hands tightened around the crude bars of the cage, the woven stems creaking under the pressure of his grip. His jaw clenched, eyes burning with something fierce, and stubborn.
"You are not a monster Ella."
Inside the cage, she shook her head slowly, strands of her red hair falling over her face like a curtain she wished she could hide behind forever.
"I almost killed you!" she snapped, her voice cracking under the weight of the words. Her arms wrapped tighter around her legs, as if she could contain the thing she feared she was becoming. "I couldn't control myself. When I—" her breath hitched, "when I sank my teeth into you…"
Her lips trembled, because the truth sat there, ugly and undeniable. It had felt good, so undeniably good.
