He barks out a laugh, full of mirth.
There’s a pause before he whispers, “Fenrir took Sose fromme, Max.”
My eyes crinkle, a line forming between my brows. My mind is working, thinking of all the different scenarios.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s not so complex,” he rasps, shrugging. Coming close again, he tilts my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze, this time his touch gentle. “She was my fiancée, once upon a time.”
The sharp sting of jealousy is telling. Before, I was worried I would end up with the same fate of a poor female who was killed by the male in front of me. Now, I’m jealous she ever stood where I do.
“Easy, kitten. It was an arranged marriage in my youth.”
“I’m not jealous,” I deny, fisting the dress into my hands. To stop from attacking him or the ghost, maybe.
He lowers his face, inhaling at my neck, those fangs drawing over my throat. I can’t stop the moan that leaves my lips. “You reek ofjealousy, mate. Do you hate knowing another woman was in my life?”
I narrow my eyes over his shoulder. “Should we discuss the bard again? Or the merchant after him?”
He grabs my throat again, holding me still. He hates being reminded others have had me as well. It soothes the jealousy in my heart that I’m not the only one twisted.
“Years ago,” he begin, “Sose was chosen to be my wife. I was young, a highly decorated heir, and I recently learned to leash my beast. Sose was a lord’s daughter, young, beautiful, andwilling.”
A growl vibrates out from our enclosure. It’s a dangerous warning.
But it doesn’t come from the heir. It’s coming fromme.
Kaden looks absolutely thrilled.
“I had no choice in my marriage, Max.” It’s to calm me but it doesn’t. I just see a beautiful Fae with her arms around the heir and my body grows hot with rage.
“Sounds familiar.” I ignore how badly I want to kill a woman who is already dead.
Kaden grins as if he can see the murderous thoughts spinning in my mind. “Most Dark Fae marry for political reasons. My parents did. I was expected to do the same.”
“But then something happened, I assume.”
“I fell in love,” he whispers it like a confession, and my heart drops, a stabbing pain where it sits in my chest. “I thought we would change the world, together. I thought she would be the one—” He breaks off, indecision appearing in his eyes. “Well, I thought she’d be the one to love me.Allof me.”
I hate hearing the whimsical tone, the yearning in his voice for another woman. My face drops.
Just moments ago, I wanted to stab him for keeping secrets from me. For keeping me in the dark while he moved pieces in a complicated game, not allowing me to help even though I didn’t know the rules.
Now? I want to be the reason he yearns. I want him to talk of me the way he speaks of Sose.
“But she chose Fenrir.”
Gently, he tilts my head further back, hand firm to my neck, his free hand grabbing my hip to pull me closer. I feel every inch of his muscular body, the press of his thighs, the heat of his aura against mine. It warms me, soothes me in ways I can’t describe.
It’s the bond, pulling us together. But it’s so much more. It’s the Heartbond, two beings met to be together, finding their other half.
Heartbonds.Blessed Dey, it’s because we’re fated. Not just soul-bound, two beings unable to kill the other sharing a life, but two hearts looking for their other half. That’s why this bond is so intense, chaotic.
“I thought?—”
“That she loved me too?” He shakes his head, remorse lining his face. “You’ll find, kitten, you’re one of a kind. You’re the only one who could ever love a beast.”
He hovers, lips brushing mine, as if he’s afraid to move closer. Asking for permission.
