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“Because of this stupid mate bond.” I roll my eyes. “It’s not like we claimed each other. We can still say no.”
He stares back at me with what feels like more secrets. Hurt stabs at me at the reminder of what he kept from me. And if there’s more—I can’t take it.
“Let’s just be done with this,” I say, lifting my chin with a challenge in my hard gaze. “You could reject me.”
“No,” he growls with enough force that I cross my arms against the urge to step back.
This time, I let a threat edge into my voice as I say, “I could reject you.”
His dark gaze flashes with a flicker of flames in their center. “You won’t.”
The certainty in his words pricks my pride. Instead of remembering all the reasons why I shouldn’t do it—all the reasons I don’t actually want to—the words fly from my lips if only to prove him wrong and wipe that smug-ass look off his face.
“Legion Razginath, I rej?—”
He roars, closing the distance between us and shoving me back against the car. My breath is stolen but not from the impact. It’s the look in his stormy, pain-filled eyes that has my lungs squeezing and my heart pounding. His breath on my face—the taste of it in my mouth—and his full lips hovering so close I can practically feel them on mine already. The chaos in his eyes reflects the raging emotions I feel for what we are to each other.
“Don’t,” he pleads.
In that word, I hear what he won’t say. He wants me. And he wants me to want him.
I can’t deny that I do.
I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone.
That’s precisely what I hate about him.
No, it’s the betrayal I hate. The way I opened myself up to him—a first for me—and he cut me.
“You don’t want this any more than I do,” I argue, desperate now to be rid of this force that continues to draw me back to him even when it hurts. “You told me that yourself. Why are you making this so difficult?”
A shadow crosses his handsome features, further darkening his expression. For a moment, there’s a vulnerability in him. A glimpse into the raw, real truth that lies buried so deep. “Even without accepting the bond, we are connected,” he says quietly.
“If you’re talking about this curse, you can go fuck?—”
“I’m talking about my feelings for you. And your feelings for me.”
“Those feelings aren’t real. They’re the mate bond luring us in.”
“You know it’s more than that.”
“No, I don’t,” I say stubbornly.
“I never wanted you as a mate,” he says, hurting me even though he’s said it before. “So, it’s not the mate bond. Because even with it drawing me to you, I was going to resist. To walk away. But then I got to know you. And something changed. I became willing to help you. And every day we spent together became better than the last. You’re not what I thought you’d be. You’re kind. Compassionate. Smart. You make my life better, Torissa Sage. In every way.”
My resolve softens with every word he utters. I blink back hot, angry tears as I say, “What does it all change, though? Nothing. I’m still cursed. And your crazy parents are still after you.”
“Exactly. Rejecting me won’t change anything either. They will still come for you to get to me.”
“And I will still be cursed,” I say bleakly.
Pain flashes in his dark gaze. “But the bond between us offers one edge that will help.”
“What?”
“The madness that comes from resisting it. Resisting you.” His voice is raw, his eyes haunted. “My shadow beast grows stronger every day that passes without claiming you.”
“Why does that sound like it’s not a good thing?”
