“Nicolette doesn’t know you, so she’ll buythat klutz crap, but you don’t have accidents.Whathappened?”
“You know I’m injured, right?” he asked asshe tugged more incessantly at his fingers.
“No, I can’t tell you’re injured because youwon’t open yourfuckinghand.”
The frustration and distress in her voicefinally made him open his hand. She gasped when she saw the tube ofglass sticking out of the reddened skin surrounding it. Dried bloodstained his palm, but the bleeding had stopped, and puckered fleshencased the glass.
“Whydid you do this?” Aidabreathed.
“It will be fine.”
“I have no doubt, but why would you do thisto yourself?”
Julian tugged on his hand; at first, shedidn’t release it, but finally, she let him go. Grasping the shaftof glass, he didn’t wince as he pulled it from his palm and tossedit in the trash.
When fresh blood spilled free, he closed hishand to keep it from spilling on the floor and walked over to turnon the faucet. Sticking his hand beneath the water, he watched hisblood swirl around the sink before going down the drain.
Aida watched him with a sense of surrealness.Who was this man who returned in place of the boy? She felt as ifshe knew him so well, yet she didn’t know him at all. That boynever would have plunged a shaft of glass through his palm, ormaybe he would have and she’d only believed she knew him when shenever had.
CHAPTER 17
Aida shook her head to clear it of her disorientingthoughts. “Julian, why did you do that?”
The tensed set of his shoulders and the rigidway he stood before the sink made her ache for him. She didn’t knowwhat was wrong with him, but something clearly was. No matter howkind he was, he was also incredibly lethal, and she had firsthandexperience with the viciousness of his kind.
However, instead of fleeing like any sane,rational human would in the presence of a predator, she found herfeet moving toward him. Stepping beside him at the sink, sheclasped his wrist and inspected the wound as blood oozed fromit.
When he lifted his head to look at her, shebrushed back a strand of black hair falling into the corner of hiseye. He’d embedded a shard of glass in his hand and hadn’t flinchedwhen he pulled it out, and power oozed from him, yet the vulnerableair surrounding him made a lump form in her throat.
“Why did you do this?” she whispered.
He bowed his head as he focused on the blood.The knuckles of his other hand, locked around the sink, were white.She hoped he didn’t tear it from the wall.
“Julian.” When she touched his cheek, hishead turned toward her. “If I’m going to trust you again, then youhave to talk to me. What is happening? And why did you come herewhen you’re so unstable?”
He couldn’t tell her everything, but hecouldn’t keep it all hidden from her anymore either. She’d nevertrust him again if he didn’t tell her some of what was going onwith him.
“I reached maturity,” he said.
Aida’s eyes widened as his words sank in.She’d been around the Byrnes enough to know that meant he’dfinished aging and was now a full-fledged vampire who was a lotfaster, stronger, and better at wielding his abilities.
Because he was a pureblood, he would hungerfor either blood, pain, death, sex, or a combination of things. Italso meant he was more volatile and would continue to be until hefound and claimed his mate.
Sorrow swelled in her chest; no matter whathappened between them, Julian was always sweet and kind to her.After seeing him in the gallery, she suspected she knew which ofhis instincts went into hyperdrive. He wasn’t the type of man whocould handle always wanting to kill, and he definitely couldn’thandle killing an innocent.
His good nature and gentle ways made her feelsecure during the summer they spent together. It had neverconcerned her that he was so large and a vampire; instead, she feltconfident in the knowledge he would keep her safe.
Not only was he kind to her, but he’d alwayscarefully unhook the fish they caught before tossing them back.She’d watched him climb a tree to return a baby squirrel to itsnest. Sometimes, they would catch fireflies at night, and he wouldhold him in his cupped hands. Their glow would flash over his facewhile he smiled and held his hands out for her to get a betterlook. They’d stand with their heads touching as they hunched overhis hand before he carefully set the insect free. And in all theiradventures, he’d never intentionally mistreated anything.
“What do you crave most?” she asked.
“I want to kill everyone out there,” headmitted on a whisper. “For a minute, it took all I had not to killthe woman who gave me the champagne.”
The hair on Aida’s nape rose, but she wasn’tconcerned about herself; she worried about everyone out there. “Youshouldn’t be here. You could attack someone.”
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “It’s not thefirst time, and it won’t be the last.”
She blinked back the unexpected tears burningher eyes as she restrained herself from hugging him. She had noidea what was going on between them, and allowing herself to getcloser, especially after this revelation, could be disastrous.
