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She’d drawn nearer to him, challenging his wolf by glaring at him, unblinking. Tingles raced down his spine with the need to shift and defend his territory, the need to reinforce his dominance.
“I was curious.” His words were curt, his jaw clenched. “You clearly treasure this comb, but you don’t like it when I touch your hair. I thought there might be a link.”
“It’s a comb, Riaz,” Cortana hissed. “From someone I actually cared about.”
It was a slap in the face, and his wolf went off the deep end. “And you don’t care about me, is that it?”
“Argh!” She threw her hands in the air, flabbergasted. “You’re no better than Renata, marking your territory like you own me! I don’t belong to you.”
In that instant, Riaz succumbed to the rage that bubbled beneath his skin. Eyes blazing orange, the wolf crashed through his defenses, unspent darkness out in the open, caustic emotions barreling through their nascent mating bond with the force of a battering ram.
“Is it even hard for you? Do you even have to put any effort into denying me? In pretending you’re so much better than I am?”
“I told you—I’m not your pet, Riaz.” His name in her mouth was a scathing sound. “I don’t do relationships. If you fell in love with me, that’s your own problem, not mine.”
“Do you have feelings in that dried up old heart of yours, Pet?” He closed the distance between them. “Do you even remember what it feels like to care about someone other than yourself?”
“Like you’re one to speak!” Cortana spat. “You only care about other people, and you’re too afraid of yourself to ever be alone! What kind of alpha is too afraid of his own shadow to go on a run by himself? To sleep alone? You’re a coward!”
He barred his teeth, every inch of him shaking with anger, the need to shift barely suppressed. Turning away, he muttered darkly, “There’s only so much a man can take, Cortana.”
“Can’t take the heat, huh? When things get rough, Riaz gets going?”
He stiffened, the words shredding what little dignity he had left. Deep hurt resonated within him, the kind of pain that marred the spirit. Fisting his hands, haunted eyes turned to regard her, his snarling lips soundless. The predator was seething.
Cortana didn’t stop, regardless of the pain she was causing.
“I see you for what you are, Riaz.” And then she spoke the words that broke his heart: “A coward in wolf’s clothing.”
He held the icy blue gaze, watched as she lifted her chin in anticipation of his wrath. But her burning venom had the opposite effect. It tore down the last of his walls and exposed the vulnerable man beneath.
The anger that’d been building disappeared, taking with it any trace of the confrontational wolf thirsting for violence. Void of all emotion save despondency and a deep, visceral hurt that warred with Cortana’s need to lash out, he cast his eyes down and closed them in a long exhale. He’d had enough.
Regret funneled through their mating bond. “Riaz—”
“Get the hell out of my den.”
Once infused with mirth and laughter, his voice was drained of every ounce of what made Riaz him.
Cortana couldn’t help but try to voice her apology once more. “I’m so—”
“Get. Out.” This time more firmly, the man behind the mask finally meeting her gaze. Broken. Fundamentally. “You’re no longer welcome here.”
Riaz didn’t stay for her response.
Coward.
No word had ever sliced him so deeply.
Wolf snarling beneath his skin, he tore into his office like a man possessed. Relaxed? Never again. Soft? Rough edges would be his new exterior. Cowardly? No one would use the word to describe him from this moment onward.
Things crashed into the waste bin; papers were stuffed into folders, cabinets dragged in and filled alphabetically. All the things he had kept for their sentimental value went out the door with a curt word to Gadriel to trash them.
In two hours, he’d rage-cleaned his office from top to bottom, seeing each worksurface for the first time in remembered history. Everything was organized and settled into its proper place—whatever that meant.
By the end, his wolf has appeased, and the man was spent.
Collapsing into the office chair that sat awkwardly behind the empty desk, Riaz put his head in his hands. Now was no time for weakness—and it never would be again.
