Page 15 of Rock Hard

I nod my head but keep my eyes locked on her. “It leaves a mark that all shifters and magical creatures can see but humans can’t. It binds us together.”

“You did that without my permission,” she growls, standing, naked, and pacing the room. My cock stiffens and I mentally force that fucker down. Now is not the time. “Surely there must be some rule for that!”

I clear my throat nervously. “I didn’t mean to do that. I lost my head. The taste of you drove me crazy.”

Her brow lifts and she glares at me icily. “So it’s my fault in some way that you locked us together. What happens now? I haven’t fallen in love with you…”

I flinch at her harsh words. But I can’t blame her.

“I assume that I’ll change back to stone at sunrise. And unfortunately you may suffer some small discomfort when you’re away from me.”

She chokes on a growl and turns away, punching the wall and then shaking her hand out. “So I get to feel the loss when you’re gone even though I didn’t ask for it. I have to be punished for your misdeeds.” Her eyes turn back to me, sharp and pained. “Is that fair, Granite?”

Her words burn all the way to my soul. I did something so unfair to her that it’s worse than what Menen did to me. She was wholly innocent. I understood that Menen was thinking thingsthat she didn’t have any right to feel. I knew what was happening even as I tried to convince her that it wasn’t right.

I took all of Angela’s choices away from her. She’ll never be able to look at another male now. And since she doesn’t love me…yet, she can’t feel anything for another male. She’s not free.

And I did this awful thing to her. I’m worse than Menen.

I roar and drop to my knees, the ache spreading through my soul, my skin hardening, my fists raising up to the ceiling and my eyes locked on Angela even as I harden to stone.

“Mate,” I whisper as my lips harden and my last breath puffs out. The last thing I see is her shocked green gaze and the tears glistening on her dark lashes.

CHAPTER 11

Angela

He’s gone. He’s turned to stone and I’m here alone.

I glance around, confused. It’s still dark out. Why the hell is he stone?

“Because you cursed him as well, foolish child.” A dark shape shifts in the corner and then a tall figure steps out of the cloaked shadows.

I back away at the malevolence in her dark eyes. She’s tall and willowy. The exact opposite of me in every way. Right down to the anger and evil in her ebony eyes.

“You thought you could keep him but yet you curse him? What kind of fool are you? You tell him you don’t love him but I can feel it. He’s a foolish male so he let you convince him otherwise but we both know it’s not true. You love him. And you pushed him away.” Her white throat goes back and she roars with laughter, an ominous cackle in the darkness. “You’re a bigger fool than I was, child.”

I move away from her, my hands reaching behind me for anything. I’m naked and standing in front of a woman who would gladly slit my throat. I can see it in her eyes. I finally find the corner of my dress and lift it in front of me, a flimsy barrier at best. Yet the soft silk and lace makes me feel slightly better.

“Why would you want a man who doesn’t want you? That seems rather foolish to me.”

She hisses, her red lips trembling. “I’m no fool, child.”

“I’m not a child.”

Her dark eyes skim my body and she huffs angrily. “You might as well be.”

Her eyes dart longingly to Granite’s stone visage. She moves towards him and touches his cheek lovingly. My heart clenches and I struggle to breathe through the anger and disgust warring within me.

“Who could help wanting Granite Zephyr? He’s a beautiful soul. That darkness in his soul wars with the good in him. It’s mesmerizing.” Her dark eyes dark towards me and her red lips tip. “And it would have taken just one tiny thing to tip him over the edge and into that darkness that clings to him. We would have been the power couple of our time.”

She’s completely unhinged. There’s no way in hell that Granite could ever be convinced to be anything but what he was. A beautiful, complicated, loving male.

I close my eyes and she laughs. “Now you know.”

“I love him,” I whisper.

“Yes.” Her dark figure comes closer and the anger in her expands, growing until it suffocates me, taking over the room, ripping the breath from my lungs. “You,” she spits out, “you carry his seed and even now you carry his child. A measly little bit of a human that’s barely fit to breathe the air amongst magical beings. You think you have the right to love a male like him and carry his child?” Her hand lifts and I screech as I’m shoved backwards into the wall. I try to move but I can’t. Air is sucked from my lungs and I struggle to reach up and claw at my throat.

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