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And then, he kissed me.
Chapter Fifty-Four
. Darro .
I KISSED HER HARD.
Probably too hard and definitely too violent.
I let rage taint my passion and didn’t rein in my temper from the past week of missing her.
I was angry.
I was in pain.
And it took everything inside me not to throw her onto the ground, flip her onto all fours, and take her like Salak took his females.
She deserved to be taken.
She needed to be reminded who she belonged to.
Because the past week of pushing me away? Of not talking to me?
It’d made me rage.
Made me doubt.
Made me inch ever closer to the edge of mortal and monster.
A shadow slipped free.
I wrapped my arms around her and pierced my tongue past her barely parted lips.
She shivered as I tasted her.
She moaned as I forced her to kiss me back.
The longer I kissed her, the more I unravelled.
My tongue tangled with hers.
Her back arched as I jerked her close.
I wanted her to feel what I did. To draw her blood so I could lap at her golden power and bind her to me forever.
Paws scurried out of the way as my shadows thickened.
All the anger in my heart switched to black urgency.
I pulled away.
She stiffened, her gold-ringed eyes darting over mine. She licked her lips, wincing at the swollen heat I’d bruised her with.
Her forehead furrowed as I dropped my arms and looped my right hand tightly around her wrist. I glanced at the shades I’d summoned. I’d known they were there with my eyes closed, but I wasn’t aware of just how many I’d conjured.
Daylight had become night.
We stood in a twisting, blotting black hole where Pelle, my frustrating moth, hovered in the darkness, gleaming like a white-flitting star.
“Why...why did you stop?” Runa asked quietly, touching her mouth with her free hand. The image of the ash bee on her palm flashed me, layering my churning emotions with another one.
I hated that she was marked by the Nhil.
I despised that no matter what I did or what I begged for, she’d chosen them over me, and I still hadn’t figured out how to free her.
She was meant to be mine, yet...she was his.
And the crushing, dominating need to change that made my fingers squeeze the delicate bones in her wrist.
She gasped and looked at where I held her.
Why did I stop?
Did she truly want an answer to that question?
Because I could give her one.
But it would scare her.
It scared me.
The depth of howling desperation.
The churning chaos and helpless yearning.
We needed to talk.
To finally figure out what to do.
Yet all I could think about was climbing on top of her and fucking—
“Darro...?” She tried to twist out of my hold. “Are you okay—”
“You said you trusted me when I slipped inside you the night of the hunt, but you’ve avoided me ever since. Which makes me think you don’t trust me, and I need to know. Do you? Do you trust me?” Jerking her into me, I grunted as she landed against my chest. The autumn chill seemed sharper here, and her heat fed my cool chest an intoxicating kind of welcome. “Answer me.”
She blinked. “Of course I do.”
I searched her eyes, saw the hesitation, sensed things she was holding back. “I don’t think you do.” Didn’t she feel me like I could feel her? I’d drowned on her tears as she’d cried herself to sleep these past few nights. I’d jolted awake as nightmares I couldn’t see clouded her head with horror.
I felt how tired she was. How drained.
I tasted her secrets and unwillingness to share.
And it hurt even worse because she couldn’t seem to feel me.
Her faint scowl turned into a harsh frown. She fought to escape again. “How can you say that? I’m here, aren’t I? I came to you and—”
“You could’ve come to me seven days ago.”
“I had to deal with what happened with Natim.”
Another flush of pain fed from her, matching the cloudy secrets in her gaze.
She’s hiding something.
“No, you had to keep a promise and find me in the grasslands.” I pressed my nose to hers, breathing hard. “I needed you, Runa, and you turned your back on me.”
“I didn’t.” She winced. “Something happened. Solin showed me—”
“Showed you something you won’t share with me.” My temper unfurled against my control. Shadows snapped and slithered.
Salak barked warningly. The other wolves scattered away from me.
All it took was a single command, and I shuddered as every shred of blackness vanished back into my skin. Sunlight glittered over the wolf pack as they glowered at me warily. I caught Salak’s intelligent gaze and bowed my chin in apology.
The alpha merely raised his lips, revealed his fangs, and sighed as if he was over my dramatics.
I’d taken as much as I could from the Nhil.
I’d stayed on the outskirts where I always did, not saying a word as the Fire Reader glowered at me as if I’d done something wrong. Staying silent as Tral watched me carefully. Not moving as Niya and Hyath guarded Runa as if I would murder her with a single touch.
