That wasn’t surprising. We hadn’t really left things off on a good note. I’d been avoiding her since the discovery that she was the Durand I had been looking for. The one that I’d been planning on destroying to hurt her and her family.
How did I go from there to here? With the taste of her on my tongue. The memory of her sweet moans in my ears.
I busied myself with pouring a finger of bourbon into a tumbler. “Alright, then how did you end up on my doorstep?”
“Does it matter?” Jack huffed. “Fuck.”
My head turned.
“The fucker got my good dagger. Tristen is going to kill me,” she grumbled, adjusting and tightening straps on her pants.
The sound of another man’s name on her lips made me see red. Unprecedented jealousy roared through me. Who was Tristen? Why did she care what he thought? She’d just been under me two minutes ago and already she was thinking of someone else?
“Well, thanks, I guess.” Jack glanced my way, wrapping her arms around her middle. “I have a vial of one of my dads’ blood for emergencies, but I’d prefer not to have them in my dreams. It was bad enough listening to them lecture me during my waking hours.”
I sipped from my glass, hating that I was erasing the taste of her. “Not a problem.”
She stepped toward me, her eyes down on the ground. “And you know, about the other thing...”
“Forget it. Blame it on the blood.” I swallowed the words like ash in my mouth.
“Right.” She bobbed her head. Was that disappointment on her face? “I guess, I’ll be going then.”
Jack paused, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. I wanted to be the one biting that lip.
“Can we not mention this to anyone? I just don’t want Tate to worry.”
“I understand.” My jaw clenched around the words. Every molecule of me wanted to demand her to stay. Stay with me. Let me make love to you. Never leave me.
But there was still the glaring elephant in between us that kept me from saying those words.
She was the daughter of the family I hated. The same family I was plotting to take down. On a cellular level, I knew there was no way I would ever get to keep her and get my revenge.
Jack started toward the door, then paused her hand going to the doorframe the other to her head.
I stepped towards her.
“I’m fine. Just a bit lightheaded.” Then she tried to take another step and she was falling.
On instinct, my shadows whipped out and caught her before she hit the floor. She’d passed out.
I had my shadows move her over to my couch and pulled my phone from my pocket, hitting the speed dial before putting it to my ear. Tate answered on the first ring, meaning he’d been waiting for someone to call. “Kyren? I’m sorry but I can’t talk right now. I’m looking for—"
“She’s here.”
I hung up after he stated he was on his way, turning to stare at the woman on my couch. The same woman whose family had taken everything from me and yet she had stolen something even worse.
My heart.
Chapter 29
Jack
I woke up not in Kyren’s house but back at the academy in Tate's bed. I groaned and shifted to get up.
Kyren might have healed with his blood, but my body still felt like it had gone ten rounds with a Mack truck. Since I’d been up against eight what I could only assume were supernaturals, it wasn’t that far off.
The bedroom door opened, and Tate stepped in carrying a drink holder and a paper bag. His eyes found me, and he quickly sat his stuff down and came to my side.
