Page 59 of Echo Power

She has dumped so many items onto the island that I can't believe she really intends to eat all of it. She's angry with me, and hurling packaged foods is her way of expressing that frustration.

I wrap an arm around her waist and hoist her off her feet, setting her down beside the island. Then I slam the refrigerator door.

Allison leans against the island. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up and listen."

"You shut up. That's what you're best at."

Naturally, I want to growl at her. But I resist the impulse and instead cage her to the island with my hands framing her body. "I grew up in this house. After my parents died, I moved to London and rarely came home unless a bird I was shagging wanted to see Fallenmouth. Hiding out in my London flat was easier than dealing with my brother. He wasn't insane back then, at least visibly, but I knew he felt slighted. So I left him alone."

"What does any of that have to do with the Echo?"

"It should be obvious. He turned me into a monster and threw me into the hell world he had created." I lean in closer. "One minute, I was a normal bloke who loved to shag women. The next, I became a genuine monster and found myself living in a world I didn't understand and could barely cope with. But I had no choice. I had to cope with all of it, and I didn't do that very well."

"Can't imagine what that must've been like."

"Yes, you can. We are both living it. Sefton turned the Echo inside out and brought hell down on the earth." I scrub a hand over my eyes and bow my head. "I killed living creatures. They would have killed me, so I justified it as self-defense. After a while, though, I couldn't tell the difference between benign monsters and the sort who only wanted to destroy anything they came across. I'm not proud of what I did to survive."

"Were there any normal people in the Echo?"

"No. Only beasts like me."

She lays a hand on my cheek. "You are not a beast. Even when we first met, I saw glimpses of who you really are. You are not a creature from the Echo. You're a man who lost his way through no fault of his own."

I'm about to point out that itwasmy fault, but something else she just said finally sinks into my brain. "What do you mean you saw glimpses?"

"At first, I hated you. But even then, I noticed little things you did that contradicted the idea you were nothing but a monster." She slides her hand down to my shoulder. "You found food for me. You carried me when I couldn't walk anymore, and later, you found a car for us for the same reason. You saved my life several times, and I've stopped believing you did that strictly because you wanted to have sex with me."

"I forced you to be with me. Vowed I wouldn't protect you unless you gave me your body."

"Yeah, you did that. But it's bullshit that you 'forced' me to get naked with you. Despite all your snarling and nastiness, you never assaulted me." She seals two fingers over my lips when I try to protest. "You never forced me. I wanted to be with you back in the warehouse. I wanted you, period. Maybe that desire terrified me at first, but not anymore."

I peel her fingers away from my lips. "But you shouldn't want me."

"Stop telling me what I should or shouldn't feel. Without you, I never would've survived the first wave, much less everything that came after."

Bloody hell, she's stubborn. I can't convince her to despise me again, though that would be safer for her.

Allison drums her fingers on the island and studies me. "When you were in the Echo, did you have sex with, um, female creatures?"

"Only a few times, when I first arrived in that world."

"Why not after that?"

I can't help it. I snarl again. "Because they are hideous, vile creatures that may look female, but they are not women."

"Mm-hm." She insists on studying me more, as if she thinks she can ferret out my deeper motivations that way, which is bollocks. "Are you saying you were celibate for the better part of five years?"

"Yes."

"Well, that does explain a few things."

I push away from the island, away from her. "What do you claim it explains? I couldn't stomach shagging monsters anymore, but there's no deeper meaning in that decision."

"Sure there is." She slants toward me. "It means you're a good person underneath all the growling and snarling and generally rude behavior. If you were scum, like you want me to believe, then you would've screwed whatever humanlike monsters you met."

Though I try to respond, to deny her claim, she doesn't give me the chance.

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