Page 73 of A Cruel Kindness

He looked down at me, his expression slightly pained. “We’re done.”

Fighting this, he meant. I nodded, feeling my brows crease together. “No more.”

Soren’s face fell a little, his expression going serious as he looked at me. It was arresting, being the sole object of his attention like that.

His gaze drifted down to my mouth, where it was still tingling from his touch even if it had been mere seconds of contact.

My hand tightened on his arm, beckoning him closer. The pull towards him was so intense, there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“NOW!” Peter’s voice boomed a second later, making us stop in our movement towards each other, mere inches before our lips connected again.

Chapter 18

Bellamy

“Fucking Elijah. Interrupting, ill-timed, arrogant motherfucker,” Soren muttered as we stomped on horseback towards the neutral meeting ground Elijah’s messenger was bringing us to.

The poor kid still looked terrified as he led us there. I was pretty sure over four attempts had been made on his life from the moment he stumbled towards the entrance to the camp to the point where he tried to tell Soren where to go. Soren looked at him with such a murderous look, I thought he’d spontaneously light on fire.

Soren’s grumbling was actually quite adorable, so much so that I had to laugh.

The look he shot me back was so heated, I thought the skin on my cheeks was going to melt off.

If this was how Soren was when he wasn’t restraining himself, I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle it. This was entirely different than the stale, overly respectful courting I’d been subject to for years.

This felt personal, which made it that much more terrifying.

I looked down at the flowers threaded through Clover’s mane, making me realize just how much had transpired in one day. Soren almost dying, me almost killing a nurse for touching him, us deciding to give in to the Bond.

And now, dealing with Elijah.

I knew as part of giving in to the Bond with Soren, I’d have to come clean. In fact, I really needed to do it before anything happened between us.

The Bond made me feel out of control around him. It was only getting worse for every minute that passed between now and the painfully short kiss between us.

As we approached the open field where Elijah was standing with a few other people and horses, Soren’s shoulders tightened. Elijah was easy to spot, towering over everyone at an ungodly height.

I knew he was looking for Carson.

“He probably sat this one out,” I said softly, if not to comfort him.

Soren let out a disbelieving laugh. “Convenient.”

“You’ll have time to get answers,” I said, the urge to comfort him swelling in my chest like a tidal wave.

Soren’s head snapped to me, his jaw going slack for a moment. It looked like I’d shocked him, but I didn’t know why.

I didn’t get a chance to ask, because Elijah’s calvary had fully come into view. With him were three soldiers I recognized from the night before. My gaze was pinned to his steed though.

The first word that came to mind when I saw that towering horse was regal.

Looking at him now, I realized that Lucky was actually just the richest brown, simply a handful of shades deeper than Clover’s shining chestnut coat, rather than black.

This horse was black. Your eyes got lost in his coat, so rich it looked like a hole in the middle of the colorful field rather than a living, breathing creature.

Elijah barely spared us a glance before returning his attention to his steed, feeding him a flower.

It wasn’t until we hopped off our horses that he turned to give us his attention. “Thank you for joining me.”