A soft set of steps creeped closer to me, making my whole body tense up. “What if I don’t want to move on?” I swallowed hard. “What if I want to do it again? What if I want to kneel down in front of you right now, part your sweet thighs, and?—”
“Zeth.” His name broke from my lips, coming out sharper than I meant, but it was the only thing keeping me from drowning in the sound of his voice and the memory of his hands on my skin. The way his mouth felt on me as we fell into bed.
Then Gideon’s face flashed in my mind, his fury, his heartbreak for Lucy, and all I could remember were all the women who’d claimed pieces of him before I ever could. That hurt and anger from this morning began to run through my veins once again.
My tongue lashed out before I could stop it. “What the fuck, Zeth? Do you need it so badly that you take it from any woman you can get your hands on?”
His head snapped back like I’d slapped him. “W–what?” His voice cracked, confusion carving lines across his face. He looked to the door then back at me. “Are you talking about what Gideon was thinking? I told you, I’ve never thought of her like that!”
“You could’ve fooled everyone with the way you two were pawing at each other yesterday.” My arms and legs crossed automatically, a weak shield against the anger clawing inside me, calling me to demand he pay for his betrayal with his blood. “While I was fighting, by the way.” I gripped my arms so hard I thought they would break off.
His eyes widened like the realization just hit him. “Isthatwhy you were mad at me yesterday?” His hand raked through his hair, tugging at the strands as he huffed and took a step closer.
“Didn’t you see me push her hand off me? She’s like that with everyone! I didn’t want to humiliate her in front of a crowd,” he threw his hand out, motioning to where all the fighters were training, “but if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.”
His hand fisted at his side, eyes narrowed on me. “I’ll walk out right now and tell her there will never be anything between us. I don’t even find her attractive!”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, torn between feeling bad for the girl and being excited by the prospect. It was very un-bossly of me. “No,” I sighed, hating how much I actually cared about the people under me. “Don’t do that, Zeth. That's just mean, and I don’t want Gideon to kill you. Plus, she’s not the only one.”
That got him. His jaw tightened, eyes narrowing as he stepped in closer. “What else?” His voice dropped, low and deadly calm. “What other misconceptions do I need to clear up so we can be together?”
The last word cracked me open, and my hand slammed against the desk. “I know about them!”
He blinked, brows pulling together. “Them?”
“The women that go to your place at night once a week!” I snapped, the words tumbling out faster than my breath. “You didn’t think I’d find out? You didn’t think I’d smell them?”
“Women?” His voice broke with his disbelief. “There are no women, damn it! I haven’t had anyone in my bed for six years.” His hands hit my desk hard enough to make my laptop wobble. “You think I could stomach touching anyone else after you?”
The emotion in his voice wasn’t anger; it was armored heartbreak.
“If you’re talking about the girls that I’ve posted around town to gather intel, then, yes, I’ve had females come to my house to tell me what they’ve learned and who was doing what, but that’s my damn job! It was better for them to meet me at my place so they didn't blow their covers.”
His words trailed off with a pained sound. “You thought I…. You always thought….”
Everything about him—the way his words cut off, his head hanging down, and his hunched back—hit me like a punch to the gut.
He circled the desk, moving slowly, deliberately, until he was standing over me. His hands gripped the armrests of my chair, trapping me—not with force, but with the weight of everything we’d never said. His breath brushed my cheek, and I could smell the truth on him, raw, desperate, real.
“I don’t see anyone but you,” he said, his voice breaking. “You’re my everything at work, but I want you to be my everything all the time.”
His words wrecked me in the best of ways, and I couldn’t help but lean toward him. Hope peppered my mind until I remembered this morning. The horns. Did he know we were mates? Was that the first occurrence? If those words came from a place of awareness instead of ignorance, the sharp pain in my chest would’ve become unbearable because that would mean he’d chosen to hurt me.
“Why now?” The words came out edged and hot even though I tried to keep them from turning venomous. Everything I’d buried, every ounce of confusion, longing, and humiliation rose in a flood that burned my throat.
I shoved back my chair and shot to my feet, fists tightening until my knuckles cracked. “Why would you care what makes me upset? You rejected me!” I jabbed a finger into his chest, every syllable reopening a wound. “You. Rejected. Me.”
He didn’t flinch, but his eyes, those summery turquoise eyes, had gone storm-dark, pain streaking through them. His lips parted, breath hitching on words too heavy to swallow. “I didn’t want to,” he said, swallowing hard. “I’ve only ever wanted you, wantedus,since we were kids.”
That still didn't answer my question. I scoffed in his face, turning away from him. I was done feeling like shit. I was done not having an explanation.
His hand shot out, gripping my arm and yanking me back to face him. “I mean it, Nova.” His words rushed out, desperate. “I—I…”
The hesitation raised my hackles. “Don’t put yourself out on my account,” I snapped, tearing my arm free. The metal desk screeched across the wooden floor as I shoved it aside, heart pounding as I made my way around him.
I made it two steps before he caught me again. His inky arms wrapped around me from behind, locking me in place. My back hit his chest with a force that knocked the air from my lungs. His breath became ragged, shaking against my ear.
“I couldn’t control it,” he said, the words slicing me open. “That day, when we sparred, I got so worked up, and it-it just burst out of me. My manipulation magic. I couldn’t stop it.” His voice quivered as he rushed on, sounding almost panicked. “I thought… I thought you confessed to me because Imadeyou feel that way.”
