Alaric
Nico burst into wild laughter that bounced off the high bamboo screens of the private deck. His brown eyes locked onto mine, dilated and gleaming with a wicked, erratic brilliance.
"Oh, really?" he purred, lifting a thumb to casually wipe away the smear of dark crimson trailing from the corner of his split lip where I had struck him.
The moment I saw the cut on his skin, a sharp jolt of regret pierced through my anger. The reality of what I had just done hit me hard. I wasn't a violent person and shouldn't have reacted that way, so I braced myself, expecting him to scream at me or throw a punch back to reassert his dominance.
But he didn't do any of that. He just stared at me, his face twisting into a manic, mocking grin as if he were deriving some twisted, intoxicating pleasure from the pain.
