“You’ve been lying to me.”
“What?” His face crumples. “No, no, baby, I wasn’t lying.”
Something snaps inside me.
My hand flies through the air before I can think. My palm cracks against his cheek. The tears come up in my eyes all at once and I don’t try to stop them. This time I’m not ashamed of slapping him. His head jerks to the side with the hit and staysthere, my handprint rising on his cheek. When he turns his face back to me, his hand comes up to his cheek.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Mara,” he says, his voice coming out soft and wrecked, eyes glassy.
“I’m just pleasure to you.” The words hiss through my teeth, venom dripping from each one.
“Absolutely not, Mara.” His hand drops, the imprint of my fingers still visible.
“You don’t want a family with me,” I tell him, and my tail begins to sway behind me, cutting through the air with sharp, agitated movements. “You knew about the floor plans for our cabin in your pack, and you didn’t bother to look at them for six months. You didn’t even tell me they existed.”
He sucks in a breath, the sound sharp. “I’ll admit, Mara, I’ve been really stupid here?—“
“Mmhmm.” I cock my head to the side.
He sucks in another breath, this one shaky.
“I have loved you,” I tell him, my voice steady. “Without a doubt. You asked me to trust you, and I said okay. My father told me he could not watch you destroy me.”
“Mara—“
I hold my hand up, and he stops mid-word, his mouth snapping shut.
“He wasn’t wrong. He told me to make you work for my heart. I didn’t. And look at what that got me.” The air around me feels too hot, too thick, pressing in on all sides. “I am humiliated.”
“I didn’t want to force you to raise a cub in the one place you said you didn’t want to?—“
I shoot him a death glare and his mouth closes, words dying in his throat.
“My father says witches and warlocks are the most selfish supernaturals he has ever encountered. Worse than the vampires.”
His face creases, pain moving behind his eyes. He opens his mouth but I keep going, unable to stop the torrent now that it’s begun.
“But I never cared about any of that.” I shrug, the movement jerky. “Seems like I should have. I just loved you. And that’s all that mattered to me. I was willing to accept whatever came with you.”
I step closer to him and he sucks in a nervous breath.
“When we mated, I was willing to accept whatever came with us. If I fell pregnant, I would have attended classes with my cub. I would’ve worked out a schedule with Nala, or asked my parents, or your mother. I was willing.” My voice drops low. “Did you think I couldn’t handle it?”
“It wasn’t that,” he argues.
I look away from him, my gaze landing on the window. I shrug. “I keep trying with you.”
“I’ll fix this.” His voice comes fast, desperate. “I won’t do anything this stupid again.”
I look at him—the fear in his eyes, the trembling in his hands, the way his magic flickers around him like he’s losing control of it. “Yes, you will. This is who you are. And I love you above it all.”
I turn away and walk to my dresser.
“But I won’t let you destroy me.”
I pull the dresser drawer open, the wood scraping loudly. I walk to the closet, grab my luggage, and drag it out onto the floor with a thud that seems to shake the room.
“Wha—what are you doing?” His voice cracks on the question.
