Alluring Darkness: A Dark College Bully Romance (Kings of Blackwater Book 1)

The front door rattles in its frame as I slam it shut behind me. After kicking off my boots, I stride into the hallway.

“You here?” I call.

Only silence answers me.

Grinding my teeth, I stalk into the laundry room and yank open my duffel bag before tossing my sweaty clothes and damp towel into the basket.

I had thought that two hours of grueling physical training would calm me down, but tension still coils around my body like steel vines. I normally don’t sleep a lot, and I can handle the exhaustion and the feeling of constantly being high-strung that comes with it. But in the past three days, I’ve barely slept at all.

After our little excursion last Friday, I spotted Raina a couple of times during the weekend. But come Monday morning, she just disappeared off the face of the earth. And now, no one has seen her all week.

I can’t concentrate. I can’t sleep. I can’t fucking breathe properly.

I’m well aware that I’m becoming dangerously obsessed with her, but I can’t help it. The tension in my body bleeds away when I’m near her, and my blood-soaked soul sings when she looks at me. Never with fear. Even after what I showed her and told her last Friday, she doesn’t back down. Doesn’t cower. Doesn’t fear me. She almost seems turned on by my threats.

It’s dangerous, I know that, but my body has started to crave the way she makes me feel. As if I’m not crazy. As if there is nothing wrong with me. As if my mind didn’t irrevocably snap back when I was thirteen. She makes me feel as if she can see right into my soul, and as if she doesn’t care about the darkness she finds in there. It’s like a fucking drug.

And then she just disappears into thin air.

Flexing my fingers, I stalk towards the stairs while reaching into my pocket. For the third time this evening, I call my brothers. None of them answer.

It takes all of my willpower not to hurl my phone through the damn window as my call goes to voice mail yet again.

Where the hell are they?

I haven’t seen them since class ended this afternoon. It’s not like them to disappear like that. Especially not Rico. They know that I’m one careless word away from slaughtering someone just to relieve my frustrations. And when that happens, Rico is always close by to pull me back from the edge so that I don’t descend fully into madness.

So where the hell are they?

And where the fuck is Raina?

I stalk through the house, my feet thudding against the polished floorboards. It’s a massive two-story building made of dark wood, and it’s probably the most coveted house on the entire campus. Since I’m a Hunter, I had first pick when I started at Blackwater, so I naturally chose this house. It has a huge living room and kitchen, a study, and six bedrooms, each complete with its own private bathroom. When Rico, Kaden, and Jace enrolled, they moved in here as well.

But they’re not here right now.

Moving through the hallway, I check each of their rooms, and even the two spare rooms too. But they’re all deserted.

My mind is spinning and twisting, and tension crackles through my body like lightning. I know that I need sleep. I can feel my muscles protesting and my brain fraying from the lack of it, but I just can’t bear the thought of lying there in my bed and staring at the ceiling yet another night. Because that’s what will happen.

Striding back down the hall, I reach the door to my own bedroom and grab the handle. But then I pause. I glance towards the stairs.

Maybe I should just head back to campus instead and do another workout? That should at least help me relieve some of the restless energy still bouncing around inside me.

Yeah, that’s what I should do.

I nod to myself and then push down the handle so that I can grab a new set of workout clothes from my closet.

With my mind still churning, I move across the threshold.

Then I stop dead in my tracks.

For a while, I can’t process what I’m seeing, so I just stand there on the floor and stare at the scene before me.

Raina is lying on my bed.

My gaze flicks over her body again, and I amend that statement.

Raina is lying tied to my bed.

She’s spreadeagled, her legs spread wide and rope securing her ankles to the footboard. Her arms are similarly tied. Ropes wrap around her wrists and trap her to the headboard, holding her arms pinned against the mattress above her head.

I slowly close the door behind me while my mind scrambles to catch up.

Drifting closer, I study her face.

She’s wearing a blindfold, and she has a pair of noise-cancelling headphones over her ears. Her chest rises and falls with steady breaths, even though she’s gagged.

I squint down at the black rubber keeping her mouth in check. If I’m not mistaken, that’s a gag from Kaden’s rather extensive stash. A penis gag that’s probably filling her entire mouth.

My gaze drifts down over her body. She’s fully clothed. I drag my gaze from her sneakers and up her bare legs to the short black skirt she’s wearing. Then my eyes land on her green button-up shirt.

There’s a note pinned to it.

Moving right up to the bed, I lean forward and read two words written in Kaden’s neat script.

Have fun.