Erin sighed, but inside, his words struck something in her.
“Why do you live all the way out here?” she asked, thinking he wouldn’t answer. “So close to those things…”
His skin was still drenched in blood. She was halfway up the second gash.
“I already told you. Because I was exiled.”
Something in his voice seemed off to her. And when he’d ‘told her’ yesterday morning that he’d been exiled, she’d gotten the impression he’d just been mocking her, playing into her assumptions about him.
“I don’t know if I believe that,” she said honestly.
Jaxor went quiet, as she knew he would.
“You know, you’re going to have to tell me more about yourself eventually,” she noted softly.
He grunted, but she didn’t know if it was from the needle piercing into his skin or because he disagreed. “Why is that?”
Erin chanced a glance back up at him, her hand stilling. But she didn’t reply.
His nostrils flared and he shook his head. “Because you believe you can tame me? Because you believe that, as my fated mate, you can make me do anything you wish? Because you think we can be like the others?”
Her brow furrowed, her lips pulling into a frown. His voice was gentle, but his words held bite.
The others?He knew about Kate, but did that mean he knew about Beks, Cecelia, Taylor, and Lainey too?
“No,” she said softly, swallowing. For some reason, his words hurt. Even though she knew none of those things were a possibility. She didn’t evenwantthose things withhim. “I know better. I know you don’t want me. I know you don’t want this.”
Jaxor blinked at her, slowly. He made that growling sound in his throat again and Erin dropped her gaze, hunching her shoulders over him, so she could finish up the last of the stitches.
But he cupped the back of her neck and made her look at him.
“We,” he rasped, “cannot have those things,rixella.”
“Who are you trying to convince?” she whispered back, looking him straight in the eyes, glaring. “Me or you?”
His pupils widened, darkened.
“In case it’s not clear, Jaxor,” she said, keeping her voice steady even as her heartbeat raced in her throat, “I don’t want this either. All I want is to go back to my planet. Myhome. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask foryou. I didn’t ask foranyof this.”
“Female, you—”
“All I meant was that we don’t have to be at each other’s throats all the time. We cantalkand it doesn’t have to mean anything.”
Erin’s cheeks were burning when she was done. He’d embarrassed and hurt her with his words. All she wanted to do was turn her face away and pretend that he hadn’t.
Jaxor was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher.
Inhaling a slow, even breath to try to combat her racing heart, she softened her tone and said, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish stitching you up before you flood this whole cave with your blood.”
He held her gaze for a moment longer, his eyes darting back and forth between her own. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Erin didn’t know what he was looking for. She told herself she didn’t care. She told herself it didn’t matter that she had this strange connection with him. He would always be cold to her. She would always be wary of him.
Jaxor released the back of her neck and she immediately looked down at the gash. She felt his gaze on the top of her head. She imagined he was glaring at her.
A few moments later, he spoke, his voice quiet.
“I was raised in the Golden City. I was not exiled. I left willingly shortly after I completed warrior training.”
