Page 40 of Kidnapped Forced Mate

“Stryder…” Stryker follows me outside.

I groan in frustration. The last thing I need is to be around any one of them.

“Go away, Stryker…” I grunt. “I’m in no mood to be lectured by you.”

“She’ll calm down and–”

“No!” I roar, spinning on my heels and glowering at him. “She wants to leave, and this time, I won’t stop her.”

“Fine,” he relents, his eyes swirling as he sends a mind link to someone else – a message I can’t hear. “Do you want me to take her back home?” he asks when his natural eye color returns.

“No!” I roar again, this time in disbelief. “Are you crazy, huh?!” I march forward and grab him by the collar, threatening him with a villainous glare. “What do you wanna do, huh? Show her that you’re the better twin?!”

“Stryder! You’re acting crazy!” he yells at me, grabbing my wrists and pulling me off him. “This is your mess! I’m only trying to help.”

I take a deep breath to calm myself, recognizing that I’m acting out only because I’ve dug my own grave. I have no right to take my frustration out on him. This is all on me.

“I’m sorry…” I finally apologize to Stryker, noticing the band of Vulkans peeping at us through the living room window. I could have prevented having an audience present during my downfall only if I’d been honest with Olivia before their arrival.

It would have saved me the humiliation if they weren’t around to witness her anger.

Anger that’s more valid than I care to admit right now. My mind dwells on the slap, my flesh tingling with the residual burn of her capable hand. A hand I only ever saw swiftly moving a brush or stroking my bare chest. I never thought a hand so dainty could wield so much power. Never expected that a mouth so sweet and sultry could speak so venomously to me.

Hanging my head, it’s defeat I have to accept when Olivia comes storming out with a bag in one hand. Despite what just happened, I still feel the need to rush over to her, the gentleman in me unwavering as I offer to take her bag.

“Don’t,” she refuses, tilting her chin defiantly and avoiding making eye contact. “Just get me out of here.”

I nod, even though she doesn’t see it. I hope she takes my silence as acceptance of her demand, closing my eyes before I can gauge her reaction. The inner dragon flashes out, taking dominance of my being.

It’s something I’m grateful for. The inner dragon that once split from my being isn’t cowering right now. Some deep part of me was hoping it would – that I’d try to shift into dragon form and fail. Not even the humiliation of that in front of all to see would have been as bad as what’s happening right now.

If my dragon didn’t come out, it would save me from having to take Olivia back home. But it seems even my inner dragon has lost hope. There’s nothing that either part of me can do to amend this mess.

I feel defeated, reclining my arm to fit her safely inside my embrace before holding her to my chest. Her body is stiff, guarding herself against my scales as I lift us into the air.

She doesn’t say a word as we make the flight of shame out of the island. She doesn’t even look up at me the way she often did when I flew her to the mountaintop where she’d paint me.

Now, she’s as cold as ice, the sharp shards of the icicles of her coldness puncturing my soul. All I can do is watch her through my dragon's eyes, my heart beating as if counting down the seconds before I have to leave her in the mortal world.

The thought clouds my vision with a warmth I’d never felt before. Not in dragon form, at least. I didn’t even think it was possible for my dragon to feel sad enough to have tears forming in my eyes.

We enter the Los Angeles air, a whimper escaping me as we near her apartment building. Olivia remains uninterested, staring at the rooftop of the building as we phase through the ceiling, landing in front of apartment number twenty-two. Olivia immediately hops off my arm, pushing her door open without having to unlock it. As I release the cloak of invisibility, I shift into human form, and hesitate to take a step forward to follow her.

“Olivia…?” I call out gently, but the door comes flying in my face.

Without a word, or even a goodbye, she’s firmly shut off communication with me.

It’s not something I’m willing to accept. Not yet, anyway. But I don’t have the heart to kick down the door the way I did when I was determined to find a way to appease her. My heart feels too torn right now – a feeling I’d avoided all my life.

I knew it…

I knew that for me, love meant heartbreak. This is why I could never love someone, or allow them to love me. I always knew that it would lead to this.

But along with the heartbreak comes a shocking realization, knocking me in the gut as if it’s Olivia’s curled fist plummeting into my belly with all the might and force of her slap.

I’m only as heartbroken as I’ve allowed myself to feel. I allowed this to go as far as developing real feelings for her.

I open my mouth when the word I deftly avoided all my life hangs on the tip of my tongue. It’s not as if it would change anything. Things have already gone too far.

---