“That’s not going to happen,” I explain, noting the light sheen that glosses over her eyes. Fake tears now, too? I don’t have the energy or composure for this.
“Why? Rion, baby, please, tell me why.” She reaches around me, slamming the door shut with a resounding thud before she brings her hand to my cheek. “I love you so much, I?—”
The tightness of my grip around her wrist is enough to make her pause as I lean in closer so we’re nose to nose. “You don’t love me, you love the control youhadover me,” I growl, watching as her eyebrows pinch as if she’s shocked by the fact.
“Don’t be silly, Rion, I love you. I love you more than I love myself. You’re my everything, I can’t lose you.”
“Did you ever have me?” I retort, the sharpness of my tongue growing as my ability to remain unfazed weakens.
“What does that mean?” Her question is barely more than a soft exhale.
“How did our paths cross?” I lean back, shaking her touch from my skin, and her hands fall weakly at her sides.
“What does any of this matter?”
“Humor me,” I insist, and she gulps. This time, her nerves are on full display.
She clears her throat, but it does nothing to strengthen her words. “Our paths crossed when you escaped your father’s control.”
“Only to fall under yours,” I confirm, and the fire in her eyes burns brighter as she shakes her head, trying to deny the truth.
“No, that’s not it, Rion, I?—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Whatever distorted view you have, it’s not real,” I insist, and her bottom lip wobbles.
“Don’t say that.”
“I was a child.”
“I never touched you as a child.”
“Fifteen is still a child, Laurie, but it doesn’t matter; you won’t be touching me ever again.” The words echo like thunder around the room, snapping down my spine with a finesse that leaves me empowered by my own tone.
“Let me make it up to you,” she says sweetly, a shell of the ruthless woman she usually is, still not recognizing the cement in my words. They’re locked in and I won’t change my mind. Ever.
I step back, ready to leave. This was never aboutmy training; it was all about getting me alone. I knew that, I fucking knew that, but I still hoped it wouldn’t come to this.
“Goodbye, Professor,” I murmur, but she pivots me as I turn for the door, blocking my exit as she plants her hand on my groin. Her lips part with desire as she gropes me, but there’s not a single response, not from my mouth, not from my mind, and certainly not from my cock.
Nothing.
“It’s okay, you just need a minute,” she insists, and I know playing nice is no longer going to work.
Reaching for her throat, I curl my fingers around her flesh, squeezing tight as I snarl in her face. “I don’t. I need you to get the fuck off me and get it into your thick skull that this is done.”
I barely hear the whistle of the door opening, followed by a soft breeze that drapes over me before the wood ricochets off the wall. One glance over Laurie’s shoulder and I see who it is.
“Rion?” Elodie’s eyes rake over me from head to toe, and I smile, more than happy to see my girl. I just wish the circumstances were a little better.
“Petal,” I rasp, joy coating my veins as my dick sparks to life.
Drayker retracts first, clearing her throat as I flex my fingers one final time before I release her.
“What’s going on?” Elodie asks as a familiar vampire comes into view behind her.
Kael.
He’s the reason she’s here.
