The words had barely left Elias Kane's lips when his pupils contracted on instinct. Serena Blackwood's hand shot forward so fast his mind registered the danger a fraction of a second too late. Her fingers locked around his throat with zero restraint, crushing the air from his windpipe in an instant.
His body simply couldn't keep up. Every muscle that might have fought back went slack under the sudden, merciless pressure. He could only force his eyes upward, meeting hers through the rapidly narrowing tunnel of his vision.
Serena's eyes had already been shot through with red from sleepless rage; now they flooded darker, the whites and irises alike stained with a faint, terrifying crimson that radiated pure, ice-cold menace.
"Do you know what I do with things that have been used by someone else?" Serena asked, her voice deceptively even, the surface perfectly still while a tidal wave of fury churned beneath.
She spaced each syllable out like a verdict. "I throw them away."
