Page 40 of Shadowed Bond

My jaw tightens.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she asks, stepping closer. “See you?”

“I said don’t.”

“Then say what you actually mean, Ares.”

“I did.” My voice rises, rougher, angrier, because she is too close and the bond is fucking with my head and sanity. The veil is still open beneath us; that monster could return if he wanted. We’re still weak, and all I can think about is that every man I know would burn kingdoms for the woman fate has tied to him. “Mates are a weakness. I said that before, and I meant it. I don’t need one. I don’t need someone people can use against me. I don’t need my head fucked because some goddess decided I should care whether you breathe or not.”

That last sentence was harsh, and I regret it before it’s even fully out of my stupid mouth, but it’s too late.

The silence after that is worse than the words I just spat out. She doesn’t move for a moment, and when she finally does, it is only to step back from me.

Just one step, but it feels like more.

“I see,” she says quietly.

Something sharp twists in my chest.

The bond still hangs between us, the pull desperate and furious, and I stand there like a fucking idiot with my hands clenched at my sides, knowing I should say something else, something that doesn’t make the look in her eyes worse, but I don’t know how.

I don’t know how to take it back without admitting why I said it. I don’t know how to tell her that the second the bond snapped into place, the thought of something touching her became unbearable in a way I cannot survive.

So, I say nothing.

Charlotte watches me, as if giving me time to take my words back, but I don’t. Then the hope, or whatever small piece of it had been stupid enough to remain in her eyes, disappears.

“Then you need not worry,” she says, her voice cold and controlled in a way that makes me feel like I have done something unforgivable. “I have no interest in being a weakness to a man who sees me as one.”

“That’s not-”

But I stop, because it is what I said, and she heard exactly what I gave her.

Her lips press into a tight line, and I hate that too because it is the only sign she gives me that I hurt her.

“Charlotte,” I say, but her name feels wrong right now, as if I don’t have the right to use it after what I said.

She looks at me with complete indifference. For a second, my wolf almost takes control, and I nearly step towards her, but the moment I move even slightly, she steps back again, and this time I let her.

Like a coward.

“Did Leo respond at all while I was unconscious?” she asks, checking her Schattensicht.

“Na, we lost connection or the veil interfered,” I reply.

“Right, I’ll check.” Her tone is business-like now, with an edge of frost. We’re silent for a moment as a blue hologram screen appears in front of her, and she taps away at it. “He sent out a team an hour ago when we didn’t check in; he also didn’t get my signal… Probably interference. I’m sending him an update right now, then I am leaving. You can do what you want.”

“You can’t leave alone.”

Her eyes flash as she glances up at me, her fingers clicking away. “Watch me.”

“Arden-”

“No.” The word cracks through the air, sharp and hostile. “You do not get to decide I am unwanted and then command me as if I belong to you.”

My wolf snarls at our mate’s anger, and his anger is probably meant for me.