If I let him shut down, everything would be ruined.
If I stood any chance of making him accept me, I had to push, to fight, to prove that Iwasn’tlike them. That he could trust me. Like me...
Running after him, I—
“Oh, and another thing.” He spun around, his face black with anger. “Was it you who,ooof—”
I collided with him as violently as he’d slammed into me.
My face smashed into his chest, my speed tripping him up.
We both cried out as he fell backward, tumbling over the back of the couch and landing on the soft cushions below.
I landed on top of him.
His arm shot out on instinct, caging me, keeping me from rolling off. My palms ended up planted on his chest again, feeling the wild hammer of his heart.
Heat.
Everywhere.
His body burned under my hands like lightning. His coat sleeves draped down his forearms as he locked me on top of him, the silver cuffs on his wrists glinting in the sunlight.
“Sorry,” I whispered, breathless and terribly afraid of being accused of planning this. “I didn’t mean...” I pressed my lips together, refusing to say anything else.
He stared at me. Really stared. His dark eyes weren’t arctic anymore—his pupils blown wide and hungry, something raw and unguarded swimming in the bottom of his soul. Without a word, his arm slid tighter around my waist, pulling me flush against him as if he’d forgotten himself.
For a heartbeat, I saw nothing else,feltnothing else.
Just him.
Just his body beneath mine, his palm splayed over my lower back, his breath skimming my lips. Sparks danced in every place we touched, a static charge building stronger and stronger, until one wrong move could set us alight.
His gaze dipped to my mouth, his fingers flexed against my spine, and I completely forgot how to breathe.
He shivered as if my proximity unravelled him, but then, with a guttural groan, he shoved off the couch, taking me with him. He supported me until I stood on two feet, then shoved me away. The loss of contact made my skin burn with snow after burning with his unnatural fire.
Breathing hard, he clenched his fists by his sides. “Stop playing whatever games you’re playing.”
“I’m not—”
“I’ll pay you in blood but not in that.”
How did he break my heart by offering to pay me with the very thing trapping him here, yet constantly denied himself any form of companionship?
It only made me more determined.
More sure that I was doing the right thing trying to be his friend.
“Lucien, I—”
“Don’t.”
“But—”
“Was it you who hurt Whisper?” He cut me off deliberately. “Did you use the knife I gave you to harm the only thing I care about?”
Every piece of me smarted as if he’d slapped me.
