Page 44 of The Warrior's Captive

“They wouldn’t believe that. They wouldn’t even believe that you weren’t a traitor. I need to be here. Alone. You can never come back. We can never see each other again. Now that you’re well, or at least not in danger of…” She couldn’t say that. Not ever. “We’ll figure out how to get you out. It’ll need to be soon as—”

“I don’t think you heard me, Briar May.” His face was alive. Feral. “I’m not leaving you.”

She drew herself up off the floor. If he wouldn’t listen to reason when she was down on her knees, then she was done begging him to accept her plan. She needed to be the one in command. It was the only way, and it was breaking her heart. When did it happen that he’d become like air for her? That she needed to breathe him in so that she could live?

“I reject you, Castor. I’m not even sure I’ll ever want a mate, but I certainly don’t want one now.”

“What happened in the Jeep, the bonding scent, the—”

“It was a fear response. Nothing more,” she took a deep breath for the worst lie, “I have no feelings for you. What we shared was… well, I don’t know what it was, but it’s not enough to base a lifetime on.”

“A lifetime has to be built.”

“It’s not enough to build anything on. A few days, that’s all we had.”

He lost control then. It was a marvelous thing, watching the storm clouds gather on his face. The fresh scar on his cheek, jagged and brutal, looked like a lightning bolt coming alive. He looked every inch like a brutal, angry god. “I know I’ll never be the kind of man you deserve, but I could defend you. I could protect you. I would happily die for you.”

“That’s the thing.” She thrust her nails into her palms. It seemed to be the only trick that could steady her. “I don’t want you to die for me. I don’t want you at all.” The lies scalded her, but there was nothing that could cauterize the way she was bleeding out inside. “Not that way. You saved my life and I had to be sure yours was spared. I could never have lived with myself. It was something I did based on my own code of honor. We were compatible for a night, but a lifetime is more than just a good time. A lifetime is what my parents have. Respect. Wisdom. They talk to each other. They guide each other. They relate to each other and have common experiences and goals. They’re united like one body. That’s what I want in a mate, and I know we’ll never have that. We’re as different as can be. We came from different worlds. We’ll never have peace with each other.”

His eyes were blazing with fury now. He wasn’t going to throttle it back. He was losing her, and he hadn’t arrived at the truth yet, but it would sink in when he was done denying it.

“That’s bullshit.” He swung his legs off the bed and stood up like he hadn’t just been riding a razor thin line between life and death for days. He towered over her and there was zero softness about him. He wasn’t the hardened killer with a heart of gold. He was the brutal warrior who’d had to be nothing short of a beast his whole life in order to survive. There was almost nothing human about him. He was thunderously, darkly, well and truly angry and he was about to unleash himself on her.

A dark, thrilling shiver tingled through her muscles as she tensed. She didn’t fear him, she wanted him to hate her, because if he did then he’d be free.

He grasped her jaw between his fingers tight enough to bruise. She winced, but he didn’t let up for a single second. An arrow of pleasure traced from that punishing grasp straight down between her thighs.

She leaned into his touch, aching to be closer. On his part, he did nothing to hide what he was from her. She’d never been properly afraid. She still wanted him, even the worst of it. She’d read so many romance books, but she’d never wanted a prince charming or a white knight. Her brother was that for Zora. He was the tender, caring, doting mate. But even he had fought for her. Even he would be an insane beast if anyone ever even threatened to harm Zora or the kids.

She barely knew this man holding her so tight and so close, a flaming pillar barely holding himself in check, but she could see how he tried to hide his true feelings. How he guarded himself. He might be a warrior. He might be a savage animal, more wolf than human. He might have done unthinkable things, but he’d done them to survive. Even as a child. Right now, she could see the naked agony on his face. She could feel the slight tremble in his fingers and knew it wasn’t from his fever. She could smell the need in him.

Apparently, opposites did attract. Maybe it was something about body and brain chemistry, or maybe the universe just had a funny sense of humor, but it was clear to her that good girls often fell for really bad boys. It was more than just the allure of the exotic, something beyond the narrow sphere of a life barely lived.

That’s not what drew her to Castor.

She didn’t have a good explanation for it, but all of her wanted all of him. There were no exceptions. Full stop.

“You don’t fool me, little wolf. You’re saying this because you think that’s what I need to hear so that I leave. You care, so you want to save my life. You’ve just seen me… seen something awful. You’ve seen the worst of what one man can do to another. I don’t need you to save me, though, Briar May. I don’t need you to lay down your hopes and dreams. You aren’t a sacrifice on some altar. You’re a real person.” His touch turned gentle. He cupped her face in that one huge hand. “You’re the one person in the world I care about, and who I think cares about me. I never thought I’d have that because I never wanted to have it. My life has been my own, and through a complete accident, it’s now yours. It’s yours and I won’t leave to save it.”

She needed to push harder. Push him away. She needed to break him, even if it meant hurting him, because being tender and soft and having hope would get him killed.

Then she’d be like her brother. Rome was irrevocably broken.

“Briar May.” Castor’s hands grasped her shoulders, and not gently. He didn’t shake her. He just held her. “Please. Tell me the truth. Are you trying to reject me because you truly don’t want me, or are you trying to save me?”

“That’s something I’d like to know as well.” Kieran.

The door was open slightly. It had been open the whole time. Briar May felt all the blood drain out of her face. She had to stop her brother. Castor didn’t know, but Kieran didn’t know that he didn’t know.

“Especially given that you’re carrying his child. We’re not about forcing a mating just because of a pregnancy, and we won’t do that, not ever. But I have to know, are you saying these things because you truly don’t want this, or are you trying to fix a situation in the only way you think you can?”

If Castor appeared cracked open before, that was nothing to the utter devastation on his face now. He wasn’t in shock. He wasn’t furious. He was hurt, and it should have been impossible to hurt a man like him, but of course it wasn’t. She’d hid that from him because she knew he would never abandon his child. And now he knew. It was one more wound on top of a lifetime full of scars, maybe the greatest one, because he’d opened himself up enough to let her wound him.

As naked as it was, that hurt quickly vanished. A punishing, cold, unforgiving glower took its place. He said nothing, just shut down, dropped his hands, and waited for her response.

Kieran stood there, sensing something was wrong, but Castor hadn’t given himself away. He hadn’t given her away either.

When neither of them spoke, Kieran stepped in. “I think we need to go downstairs and talk about this. My preference would be to have a family meeting, with Mom and Dad and Zora, but if you don’t want that, I understand. I think that they might be able to suggest other solutions, if you’re willing to hear them. You can express your opinions and of course, we’ll listen. I want to see you happy, little sister.” He didn’t mention Castor, but then, he wouldn’t.

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