Her jaw clenched, and I thought she would say something to me, but she ignored me. Her pretty eyes looked away from me and back to Sam. She was going to cause this man to lose his life.
“Anyways, Sam, before we were so rudely interrupted, you were telling me a story.”
Cassius and Thea were watching with wide, interested eyes. Cassius gave me a look that let me know that it was completely obvious that I was jealous. But I was too far gone. There was no way to compose myself. My insides burned with jealousy and possessiveness as I stared at my mate.
“Umm…” Sam glanced at me and back at Della. “I have to get back to duty, but I’ll tell you at dinner tonight.”
My eyes narrowed on her when she flinched slightly at his words.
“You invited him to dinner tonight?” I seethed at her. Did she want me to kill him? I would. I wouldn’t feel bad about it either.How dare he think he can make a move on my mate. “Absolutely not.”
“It’s not your decision.” Della glared at me. “I’ll see you at dinner, Sam.”
He nodded and left immediately, which probably saved his life. I stepped toward her, and she didn’t back away from me.
“What is your problem?” she snapped.
“You, acting like you’re a single woman.” I pointed toward Sam. “Really?”
“I am a single woman, asshole,” she reminded me, but we both knew that was not true. “You act like I asked him to sleep with me. It’s a friendly dinner with all of us going.”
Her mention of sleeping with him did me in. I grabbed her hand and started dragging her away so I could remind her that she was mine.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. Della was not trying very fucking hard to get away from me. I ignored her and walked quickly away from Cassius and Thea so they would not witness me lose my fucking mind over this woman. Although I could hear them chuckling softly, so I’m sure they knew. “For fuck’s sake, Haden, you are acting like a godsdamn psycho.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing by flirting with Sam.” I glared back at her. I expected her to argue, but she smiled at me.
“Jealous?”
“I’m dragging you into the woods to prove to you that I am the only man you get to flirt with. I think we are past jealousy.”
“I wasn’t flirting with him,” she scoffed. “I do not know how to flirt.”
I turned toward her and glared.
“Yes, you do, and I didn’t like how you were smiling at him.” I stared at her. “You are very good at flirting—I should know. Until Sam, I was the only man you flirted with.”
She raised her eyebrow at me.
“I was being polite.”
“Fuck being polite,” I said. “You can be polite without smiling like that.”
We were already deep in the woods at this point, which was probably good because Della’s eyes flashed white, and I knew it was from rage. She stepped toward me, and I refused to back away from her wrath.
“You are such a prick.” She stepped toward me again. “You told me you never wanted to see me again.” She took another step forward. “You told me you couldn’t wait for Thea to break her curse so that I did not have a reason to linger around any longer.” Another step. “You hate me.”
I didn’t know what to tell her. How was I supposed to explain that I didn’t do that, the supposedlynicepart of me did? But he wanted her too, even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud. Her starlight eyes burned with the wrath of a thousand suns, and it made me feel warm and desperate for her. I knew she didn’t want me to touch her, but I was slowly losing my ability to keep my hands to myself.
Storm was breathing heavily now, her cheeks flushed and her hands clenched at her sides. Gods, she might hit me. Was it sick that I wouldn’t care if she slapped me because at least she would be touching me? Fuck, I was a sick man.
Della stepped toward me, and the smell of night and flowers was my damn breaking point. She was only a foot in front of me, and my mating bond could not control itself. I grabbed her face in my hands and kissed her with desperation. Her mouth moved against mine for only a moment, one perfect fucking moment. But she pulled back enraged, and then she slapped me across the face. I grabbed my cheek and smiled at her.
“Storm…”
“You were on a date…”
I looked at her oddly. Then it dawned on me what she meant.
