“I’ll be fine,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him or myself.
He scowled, looking back at the moon. Was he searching for answers up there? My attention lifted to the star flecked sky finding nothing out of the ordinary. Though with Lysian vision, perhaps he saw things up there that I was blinded to.
“How have you been? How is Kole?” I asked, my attempt at having him open up.
“Fine,” he answered flatly.
“You’re angry?”
“No.” Again, he answered with a single word.
“Why are you so distant?” Erik had seemed more welcoming when Fraser had him locked up in prison than he was now. “I thought you wanted my help?”
He observed me. “You know what I desire. The way I see it, the next decision is yours to make. You tell me when you are ready to help, if ever.”
“I don’t understand why you are behaving like this. . .” I stopped myself from finishing the thought, for it sounded pitiful. Despite everything, I believed we had been forming a friendship. That was true, wasn’t it? Yet now, it seemed like he did not want to acknowledge any of it. It was as if he had built up walls in the few weeks I had been gone, walls primarily against me.
“Despite everything, I actually liked you.” I shared a bit of truth, hoping it would warm him towards me.
“You actually liked me.” He parroted, as if trying to understand my angle. If it was possible for him to tense even more, he did.
I blew out a breath. “Are you trying to pretend that you did not like me too? That I was just a prisoner and nothing more?”
He moved so fast. Suddenly his hand was around my throat. Instinctively I recoiled, and when I couldn’t step away, I grippedhis forearm. My pulse beat against his palm as his fingers tightened, though not enough to cut off my breathing.
I was too stunned to voice any words, especially when Erik leaned closer. He drew in a deep breath, as if inhaling me. The gesture was oddly intimate. His lips were close enough to be dangerously inviting.
Danger. My senses screamed. But the warning lost itself to the heat burning beneath my skin. Something darkly thrilling shot through me, drowning out thoughts of reason or caution. It was as if I grew drunk by his proximity.
My breath hitched as his free hand slid to my hip, his fingers biting into my flesh with a possessive touch. The corners of his lips lifted. His smirk was infuriatingly confident as his gaze roamed over my face, devouring me. He drew me closer till his lips were just shy of mine. With his hand at my throat, I was completely at his mercy. Except, I could still conjure. Iallowedhim to hold me like this. His eyes barely widened, as if realizing the same thing, before they narrowed.
His breath ghosted against my cheek as he said, “I want you gone.” He released and shoved me away.
As quickly as it began, it was all over. The emotional whiplash was nearly too much. Was he toying with me? Trying to scare me?
I stumbled, catching myself.
My attention fell to his feet. An uncomfortable fervor coated my skin in embarrassment. What was I supposed to say to that?
Silence spilled between us until he finally spoke again, his voice taking on a gentler tone. “As much as I would like to walk you home, especially on a night like tonight, I cannot. Your men will see me as a threat, particularly on this occasion. I will be taken as an immediate risk. They will attack, and I will defend myself. You will be forced to protect your own. So, it will come down to you and me at odds. Blood will be spilled. This is where we are, the world we live in.” His dark eyes continued to cut intome. “You should not have come here and on the night of the white moon. What if another Lysian approached from the border? What if they attacked you? Would you have killed them to protect yourself? Where would such an act have left us then? You are being irresponsible to both your people as well as mine. I never thought you this foolish.”
I stared at the ground like a scolded child.
“You’re right.” It was stupid to have ever imagined anything other than what he described. Still, disappointment settled in my stomach. I had been eager to see him, to be near him.
I felt him watching me as shameful embarrassment washed over me.
He sighed, reaching for me again. Warm fingers curled around my forearm, sending a jolt of awareness through me. His touch was gentler this time, enough to tug my gaze back toward him. Our eyes locked, his stare piercing.
“I wish things were different,” he said softly yet with an edge of something that almost seemed like… desperation? His voice touched me where his hand didn’t, and my skin felt as though it had been set on fire again. Surly he knew the effect he had on me.
“You push me away, and then say this, as if you…” I shook my head. “What is it that you want from me, Erik?”
His hand fell from my arm. Instead of retreating, he took a purposeful step towards me. I kept my feet firmly where I stood, refusing to retreat from him. He did not touch me again, yet Ifelthim in that space. His presence filled it, as if he set the air itself ablaze. Authority rippled off him, the force of it delightfully commanding. His eyes bore into mine as I held his gaze.
His head tilted while he viewed me, the movement wolf like. “I want you to run from me,” he admitted, his voice almost daring. Without restraint, his eyes roamed over me in a way that had my face warming, especially when they paused a beat too long on my lips. “I think I would really enjoy catching you.”
I felt the heat of his unhurried appraisal in my bones, in the way my pulse spiked.
