“Is that the way I think of women?” he asked.
“Isn’t it?”
“I never really thought about it before,” he admitted.
“Before you became a vampire, the elders didn’t pick a match for you?”
“They did.”
For some reason, the idea of this irritated her. What did she care if he was married or not? “And you never asked your wife how she felt about having her husband chosen for her?”
“They chose my fiancée formetoo,” he pointed out. “But we never married.”
“Because you became a vampire?”
“No, because she fell in love with Ronan, and he with her. She became a vampire.”
Elena almost choked on her pizza again. Determining not to eat until they finished speaking, she set the slice down. Death by pizza wasn’t the way she wanted to go, and this guy kept delivering one bombshell after another.
Logan was trying not to laugh at the incredulous look on her face. She looked so adorable with her mouth slightly parted and eyebrows in her hairline that he almost leaned across the table to kiss her.
But if his revelations were shocking her, she’d probably fall over, or kick his testicles into his throat, if he tried. Still, he wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled. He was certain she did.
And he was determined to find out. Not tonight, she wasn’t ready for that, but when she was ready, he would taste her. His gaze fell to her sultry lips before returning to meet her eyes.
Elena didn’t miss the direction of his gaze, but she chose to pretend she didn’t notice the way his eyes roved over her lips. And she refused to acknowledge the way her toes curled in response. Nope, she really wouldnotthink about it ever again.
Except, she was afraid she was lying to herself, and that was one thing she didn’t do well.
“I guess that’s one way to avoid an arranged marriage,” Elena murmured. “I’m sure it went over well.”
“At the time, I was pretty angry about it, but it was the start of the Alliance, so it worked out for the best for everyone.”
“Were you angry about it because you were in love with her?”
“At the time, I believed I was. I’ve come to realize that while Kadence is very special to me, I was angry that the life I’d envisioned was gone. I love Kadence, I always will, but I was never in love with her. Both my parents were dead by the time I was seventeen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. I enjoy the hunt, and I know I’m doing good in the world, but it’s also a lonely existence… as I’m sure you’re aware. Unfortunately, too many hunters are orphans before they’re adults. But once they died, all I wanted was a family again. I used to imagine coming home to a wife and children and being greeted with hugs and laughter.”
He grew up knowing the elders would choose his bride and he would live like all other hunter men did… fighting and trying to produce children who would continue their legacy before most likely dying on the hunt.
When he learned his bride was to be Kadence, he liked the arrangement. She was beautiful, the daughter of their leader, his best friend's sister, and she had exceptional hunter bloodlines. If they were able to reproduce, they would have strong children and a good life together.
In his head, their lives were all planned out, and it was a happy existence for him. He never once considered what it might be like for Kadence, but he didn’t think of her as a second-class citizen either. He just assumed all hunters accepted their fates. He’d never considered that Kadence would live and die in the compound and never know any existence beyond its high walls.
It never occurred to him it might be a cruel existence. It was simply the way things were until Kadence shook them up.
In the beginning, he was infuriated by the changes. His entire life was upended, his future bride ripped away from him, and Nathan made an agreement to work withvampires. It all seemed like such a betrayal until he realized it was actually a gift.
The picture he painted and the loneliness it represented caused tears to form in Elena’s eyes. Her heart ached for the teen who’d lost his parents so young. All he’d wanted in life was love, a family, and to fight the evil in this world. Instead, he got a fiancée who sought something entirely different.
Elena completely understood why Kadence decided to choose her path in life, but it still made her sad to think of the suffering he must have endured. Had Mateo wanted the same thing from her for the same reasons?
It put their relationship into a whole new context, but even if that’s what he sought, it didn’t matter. The asshole shot her and most likely had a hand in killing her father; she had no sympathy for him.
“Kadence is Nathan’s sister, isn’t she?” Elena asked.
