The way he said that, infused with so much innuendo, was going to be the end of both of us if Hudson’s beast was riding him hard.
“I think it’s best if we cut this date short.”
“But I was having so much fun.”
Fun? Doubtful.
The air around shivered with the promise of violence riding in the air.
Donn moved so fast I had no time to react. His hand slid beneath my chin and tipped my face to meet his. My breath caught as his impossible eyes swam like liquid mercury. I might be spoken for, but I wasn’t immune to the pull of a god on a mission to prove he was worth my time.
A tree groaned from the edge of the cemetery as it lost its battle with a beast.
Before I could pull away, Donn’s mouth brushed mine—cool, deliberate, a provocation carved from arrogance.
The world trembled around us with the force of Hudson’s roar. His power slammed into the cemetery like a meteor hitting the ground.
I twisted away as my mate emerged from the shadows, chest heaving, eyes shimmering with a deep gold I’d never seen. His claws pushed through his skin, his control hanging by a thread.
Donn made a pleased hum. “Payment for our short date,” he murmured. “And the promise that Eloise’s strength will falter by dawn.” He winked and vanished as Hudson lunged.
Seriously?
Hudson’s fists skimmed empty air, and he snarled, his glower scorching every inch of skin I possessed.
“You kissed him?”
“He kissed me,” I said with a shake of my head. My heart hammered beneath my ribs. “Barely.”
His jaw flexed. “You let him.”
“No, he stole it.”
“But you left with him? On a date?”
“It’s part of the deal for the reduction of Eloise’s power.”
Hudson took a step closer. Heat rolled off him in waves, the bond tugging hard against my spine. “You chosehim.”
“No, I chose a plan. One you weren’t ready to hear.”
“You hid it. You hid your deal.”
“And you didn’t?”
That stopped him cold.
My chest tightened. The bond twisted, and both of us winced.
He dragged a hand down his face. “Did you pause for one moment to consider how I would feel when I returned to find you’d left with another man?”
Heat pooled under my skin, sharp and violent. “You don’t trust me.”
He stepped in, his heaving chest brushing against my breasts, a barely contained violent caress. “Cora,” he breathed, “tell me how to trust you when you keep walking away.”
So many secrets. How could we say “I do” when we hid things in fear of the other’s reaction? Did we get this wrong? I’m a being made of death. I’m not made to be loved. Hudson needed warmth, a woman who waited for him with her deepest thoughts and desires spread wide open for him to explore.
What did I have to offer him? War? Misery?
