I flip back to the part about the Soul Bound, thinking about how awful it must be to love someone, only to have them constantly taken from you. That’s a cruel fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Not even Thane, who I guess doesn’t have to worry about it since he’s the only hybrid. For the most part, I’d assume he likes being the only one, but there must be some part of him that feels lonely too.
Now that almost all of the humans are gone, I suppose I can kind of relate. I’ve spent so much of the past three years just trying to survive that I haven’t really thought too much about what it means to be one of the last remaining humans. Once the rest of us die, that’ll be it. The human race will be wiped from existence for good.
“What are you doing with that?” My pulse skips when Thane comes barreling toward me with a vicious snarl. He’s coated in blood, making him look even more menacing than usual.
“Really? She went and tattled on me?” Thane reaches over me, ripping the book out of my hands. “What’s the big deal? It was in your library thatyougave me a key to!”
“I never would’ve done that if I had known this is what you were after!”
“It’s not the book I went in there for. I just saw it on the table and—”
“And thought you’d take it?” he growls. “This book doesn’t concern you! You’re just a human!”
“And you’re a hybrid!” I yell, shooting up from the nook. “Sophia said you can’t even be Fated, so the book doesn’t concern you either!”
Thane takes a step forward, baring his fangs. “Give me the key.”
I pull the key from my back pocket and slap it into his palm. “Happy?”
“Not as long as I’m bound to you!”
“Then enjoy your misery!” I bite back, before throwing my shoulder into him as I storm off to my room.
I wait until the door is closed before I start rubbing my shoulder. Why I thought it would be a good idea to shoulder check him is beyond me. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time, and right now, the right thing feels like getting the hell out of here. I hurry over to the closet and grab the jacket I had been wearing out in the woods. It’s not nearly warm enough to be wearing up in these mountains, but it’s all I have. Besides, I’ll be in my car, so it won’t really matter what I’m wearing.
I open my bedroom door, pleased to find Thane is no longer around. In fact, he’s probably already back in the dungeons, torturing his prisoners with a sadistic smile on his face.
Even though I’m not a prisoner anymore, it still feels like I have to sneak out of here, so I quickly scurry down the stairs and head for the front door. My car is covered in snow, and since I don’t have a window scraper, I’m forced to use my arm. Luckily, there’s no ice, so the windshield wipers do most of thework. Snow is still coming down, but I don’t care. I’ll drive slowly if I have to. I just want to get away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Thane is standing in front of the SUV with his hands on the hood like he’ll physically stop it from moving if he has to.
“I’m going for a drive. Now move out of my way, or I’ll run you over!” I shift the gear into drive to make my point clear, but Thane bolts over to my door and yanks it open.
“You’re not going anywhere in this weather.” He reaches over me, putting the car in park, and turns it off.
“I’m not a prisoner anymore! You don’t get to control me!” I reach for the door to pull it shut, but he throws his arm out to stop me.
“You’re not, but you know I’m forced to protect you, which means you’re not driving in the snow.” His eyes narrow on me.
“It’s not like it’s a blizzard out! It’s just a little snow.” I push down on the brake and hit the start button, deciding I’ll drive off with the door open if I have to. “Besides, the only reason I’m doing this is to get away from you!” I hit the gas, but in a matter of seconds, Thane has me standing in the driveway with the car off. “Fine!” I whirl around and continue striding away from the house on foot. “I’ll walk!”
Thane appears in front of me, wearing a scowl that has the vein in the middle of his forehead protruding. “Get in the house, Grey.”
“No,” I say as dismissively as possible, before continuing around him.
He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and I start to think he might have actually accepted defeat.
“Please?”
I pause, wondering if I heard him right.
“Sorry!” I shout over my shoulder. “I can’t hear you with all this wind!”
Again, there’s silence, so I keep walking toward the road. I almost make it to the end of the long driveway before Thane appears in front of me.
“Please go back in the house.” His features have softened, and his eyes almost look pleading. “I don’t want a repeat of last night.”
