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“What the fuck?” Cyn glared at me.

“Are you serious right now? Your only concern is keeping your bloodline pure? Do you know what we call people like that back on Earth? A whole lot of things, and none of them are good.” She took a steadying breath. “You know what?” She pushed to her feet. “Forget it. I promise I won’t do anything to taint your precious bloodline. It’s not like you and I are bonded, anyway.”

I watched her storm out of the room into the kitchen, leaving us in an awkward silence that amplified my irritation.

“You’re unbelievable,” Cyn said, standing. “You might not want her, but you don’t speak for the rest of us.”

Zeke stood and followed Cyn out of the room and up the stairs.

What I wanted didn’t matter, but I’d never expressed a desire for a pure bloodline. I believed Father wanted me to produce an heir to fulfill his ambitions after I retired. Another pawn to maintain Elyrdin’s intended order.

Ash sighed. “You need to talk to her. I know you didn’t mean you believed it, but she doesn’t know that. Even I wasn’t sure at first, but I know you… she doesn’t.” He looked to the wraparound balcony over the living room when Cyn’s bedroom door slammed. “And he’ll realize it too once he calms down.”

I looked toward the kitchen, already dreading the confrontation to come but anticipating how she’d respond to being alone with me again since our time in her bedroom.

Her reactions to me, even as we sat here discussing Father, made my shadows writhe beneath my skin in anticipation. Anticipation of what, I didn’t know.

The only thing I knew was that while she wasn’t mine, I owned a piece of her. Enough to satisfy. Although she connected with my brothers, and they embraced her in ways I never could or would, I possessed something that fed a darker longing they could never comprehend.

I didn’t own her body, but I owned her mind.

That. Was. Everything.

Any asshole could wine and dine her before taking her to bed and offering her a disappointing lay. Not that my brothers or I would let them, but still…

Giving Raelynn a night of passion could never compare to invading her thoughts so thoroughly that, even when I wasn’t around, I was still with her.

And I was in her thoughts.

The way her eyes tracked my movements when I entered the room. The way her breath hitched and her muscles tensed when I moved too close. How her pupils dilated if I caught her eye for too long.

It was intoxicating.

I didn’t even need to touch her to be buried deep inside her.

“Raelynn,” I called to her as she entered the narrow hallway connecting the kitchen to the bathroom.

Her whole body stiffened at my tone, her shoulders rising as my footsteps approached.

“Look at me.”

She turned as I stopped a couple of feet away. “What?” Her tone held a challenge, but I saw the nervousness in her stance. She often made a point of avoiding being alone with me.

“We need to talk about what happened in the living room. You seem to be under the wrong impression.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You made yourself perfectly clear.”

I angled my head, studying her. “Clearly not if you’re reacting this way.”

I’d already inferred that suggesting she was inferior for possessing human blood might have hurt her, but I failed to comprehend why she seemed displeased with me instead of Father. He held the opinion, not me.

“It doesn’t matter.”

It shouldn’t matter, but it did. My words and decisions frequently upset my brothers, which didn’t faze me, but I struggled to explain why reassuring her mattered.

“You think I believe you’re beneath me.”

“I know you do.”