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“Why do you suddenly want me so bad?”
His dark brows lifted. “Suddenly? I’ve been running from your scent since the day you arrived.”
“Running? From me?” The thought of someone as strong and obviously powerful as him trying to escape me made me want to laugh. No one ever considered me a threat. Certainly not enough of one to run from.
He brought his head close to mine, ensuring I was staring deep into his molten gaze. “Yes, little wolf. You. All the while, my instincts demanded I hunt you. But I’ve given up. I shouldn’t want you, but I can’t help myself.”
“Why shouldn’t you want me?” Even under the heavy beat of the music, I could hear the breathless quality of my voice. I was far more invested in his answer to the question than I should be.
He laughed. “Have you paid any attention in class? Pacts and treaties are the backbone of our society. The Blackthornes and Fallons have sworn to never join. The risk of our species mixing is too great.”
“You’re a Blackthorne?” I went rigid in his arms. I knew exactly what he was talking about. The abominations created when a shifter and vampire joined usually died. Not because one killed the other, but because usually, the vampire turned their mate, and the shifter blood rejected it.
Instead of releasing me, he held me tighter, his eyes laser-focused on my throat. “I am. My father is Cashel Blackthorne, and I am the heir to the Blackthorne bloodline. I’m sorry, I should’ve told you.”
“Then you shouldn’t be spending time with me.”
He swallowed hard. “No. I shouldn’t. But that won’t stop me. I need you, even if I never taste your blood.”
“Slumming it with the corpse, Sunshine? That’s pretty pathetic, even for you.” Kingston’s voice slithered between us, stealing my attention from Noah. “Thorne, what business do you have with my castoff? She’s off-limits, and you know it.”
The lusty little bubble Noah had woven around us popped. For a second there, I’d forgotten where we were. I’d been so wrapped up in him, no one else had existed but the two of us. And then Kingston had to go and ruin it. And, as they always did when Kingston was near, shame and anger were quick to follow.
Somewhere between Moira’s makeover and dancing with Noah, I’d forgotten why I’d come to Ravenscroft. For a little while, I’d gotten to be a normal twenty-three-year-old flirting with hot guys and dancing the night away. But Kingston brought reality crashing back down.
Before I could ask Kingston why he even cared, Noah tensed around me. Part of me expected him to tear into Kingston, but he surprised me by laughing. His cold, cruel rumble conveyed just how insignificant he thought the shifter was. That was when I actually saw Noah as the Blackthorne heir, and not just as the dangerous, albeit incredibly sexy vampire I’d been so shamelessly dancing with.
“Yourcastoff? That’s not how I heard it. Correct me if I’m wrong, dove. But weren’t you the one who rejected him?”
Some of my embarrassment faded away at hearing Noah come to my defense. I smiled. “I did.”
Noah slid his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, cocooning me in his scent and wordlessly laying claim. “Sounds like you’re the castoff, mate. Maybe it’s time you learn to accept the fact that she never has been, nor will she ever be, yours.”
Kingston growled. “She belongs to me more than she could ever belong to a bloodsucker like you.”
The back of my neck prickled, warning me we were starting to gather attention. I could feel eyes on me from across the room, and despite the altercation unfolding in front of me, I craned my neck and found Alek staring intently in my direction. His icy eyes were narrowed, his lips flattened in something that looked a lot like anger, as his gaze shifted to Kingston.
Jesus. This was getting out of hand.
“Listen, Kingston, I’m not going to pretend to know what all of this is about, but you need to let this weird obsession you have with me go. It’s been seven years. Rejection sucks. I get it. You’ve made it abundantly clear you think I’m a worthless piece of shit. Can’t we just leave it at that?”
“No, Sunday. We can’t ‘just leave it at that.’”
“Why not? It’s not like you want me anyway. I’m defective, remember? Nothing but an embarrassment. Why do you care who I spend my time with so long as it’s not you?”
“Because you’re my—” His eyes flashed, hinting at the beast within as he caught himself, not finishing his sentence. And in that brief span of time, there was something other than anger in his gaze. He looked... hurt. But that didn’t make any sense. And his next words proved just how off base I was.
“Oh, I don’t care. But you should. What’s your grandfather going to say when he finds out about this?”
“Finds out about what? We were just dancing. Last I checked, that’s not a crime.”
“No, not that you were out dancing. That you’re whoring yourself out for some leech.”
I gasped, feeling like he’d punched me right in the stomach. Noah blurred as he stepped forward, his voice downright scary as he got into the shifter’s face.
“Enough. You will not speak to her that way. In fact, you will not speak to her at all. Leave, before I make you. And trust me, pup, you do not want to find out what happens if I have to make you.”
Kingston laughed. “I’d love to see you try, Thorne.”
