“Fate is a fickle beast, Wyedari, one not even the strongest of us can hope to conquer. Perhaps that is why it is said those fated to us conquer our hearts instead, to save us from ourselves. And, if you care to know, I gave her your room…as I knew her scent reminded me of someone.” He finished it with a wink, that same devilish grin curving across his mouth, and it was the last thing I saw of him before Oblivion carried me from the room.
He didn’t look back at Walder, nor did he acknowledge anything else as he made for the exit, as though nothing remained there that required his focus.
Only me.
“You can’t just…” I tried again, my voice softer this time, less certain.
“Yes,I can,”he said, cutting me off, his tone absolute, leaving no space for argument as his grip remained unyielding.
He carried me straight into the elevator, saying nothing as we waited for it to reach the right floor, the silence between us thick and unrelenting.
But the moment we stepped out into the hallway, and he turned toward the room I had been given, something in me snapped, and I started to fight my way off his shoulder.
“Put me down!” I shouted, hitting his back, furious at being manhandled like this.
“Enough!” he snapped at the same moment a sharp slap landed, the sting blooming across my ass and stealing the breath from my lungs.
“Ow!” I cried out, the protest immediate.
“That hurt!”
“And the second one will hurt even more if you don’t behave,” he warned, his tone leaving no room for doubt. I huffed, still draped over his shoulder, but I didn’t test him again. Not when I knew he meant it.
What I did try to ignore, however, was the way his hand lingered. His palm brushed over the sting he had just left behind as though soothing it, and I hated how much that affected me. Hated the way his touch sent a rush of heat through me. How it stirred something low in my stomach that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with him.
Something he must have sensed, because the next second he turned his head, burying his face against me with a low, strained groan.
“Fuck!”
I didn’t fully understand what he meant by that, but I had a feeling it had everything to do with his restraint. Or more accurately, his lack of it, especially when I felt his mouth open against me before his teeth sank in, making me yelp again.
“Do you know what this ass does to me?” he hissed, the words rough and heated, but I didn’t get the chance to respond. Because the next moment, the door was kicked open with enough force to make me jump.
Seconds later, I was upright again, dragged from his shoulder as my feet hit the floor unevenly. I wobbled on my heels, the sudden shift throwing me off balance, and I would have fallen if his hands hadn’t remained firmly on my waist, steadying me.
His eyes burned into me, the intensity of his gaze forcing me to take a step back, his hands falling from my waist to his sides as though he had no choice but to let go.
“You ran from me,” he stated, and it wasn’t a question. It was an accusation, and I couldn’t help but flinch at the hurt in his tone.
“I told you, you were wrong. I am not your…”
He moved in an instant, cutting me off as his palm covered my mouth, silencing me completely.
“I suggest you do not finish that sentence,” he said, his voice low,dangerous,
“For I am a hair’s breadth away from snapping what little restraint I have left.” He lowered his hand when I murmured against it.
“I’m sorry,” I said, because it felt like the right thing to say, and because it was the truth, as I could see how much he was hurting.
However, it was the wrong thing.
He stepped back, shaking his head.
“Yes, you already said that!” he replied bitterly, the memory of me saying those same words before stepping into the portal still clearly weighing on him.
“I know you don’t want to hear it. Hell, I didn’t want to face it,” I admitted, and his head snapped back toward me.
“You could have fooled me.”
