Page 125 of A Dusk Of Stars

I stop and I grit my teeth. “I don’t give a fuck what she likes,” I snap.

Then why are we even going?It’s been almost an entire month and he’s still not going back to his usual self.

“Not to see her, that’s for sure,” I say as I turn on my heel and move for the door. “I’ll be avoiding her like the plague. But hell if I’m giving her the satisfaction of not showing up at the Ball because of her.”

I don’t want it to be like this, the first time she sees us after—

“I believe I’ve made myself clear,” I cut him off. “If I so much as catch a glimpse of her, I’m going the other way.”

We have less than a day to make her change her mind about us.

I fling the door open and throw a look over my shoulder at the mess that my room’s been lately. Broken stuff everywhere, despite all the benders in the Lycan Forest. Aggression, there’s so much restlessness and aggression in me still.

“I couldn’t care less,” I finally say, and I walk out the door.

You’ve been saying that ever since you first laid eyes on her, and it’s not once been true.

“Watch it be truenow,” I snarl as I start rushing down the stairs.

I’m so determined to see this through, but the moment I start approaching the Main Hall, this nauseating nervousness floods me.

When I step through the archway and my fox immediately catches a whiff of her…

I can’t stop myself from moving in the direction of the scent, the one that’s like a drug to me.

When I spot her in the crowd, just standing there as if she didn’t blow my entire life up and leave a gaping hole that’s impossible to fill, it’s like a shock of sensations, memories and desires that makes me freeze in place and my mind go blank.

Everything I’ve ever decided after she ripped my heart out of my chest gets forgotten and my body moves of its own accord. I don’t care what I need to do. I’ll get on my knees in front of everyone here if needs be. Maybe, just maybe she’d actually change her mind about me.

It makes me stop midstep, when I see this guy approach and put his hand around her waist.

Rage explodes inside me and I move to lunge.

My fox stops me with a snarl,You need to calm down. I’m not letting you show your face in front of her while you’re like this.

I remain standing there, wondering if catching a single sight of her really is enough for him to go back to normal.

“Well it doesn’t fucking matter what I do anyway,” I spit out. “Because whatever I do, she’ll just keep hiding from me and hating me. Always has and always will. So why would I be humiliating myself any further?”

You know why,he says in a gentler voice.

I watch the guy lean to whisper something in her ear.

What the fuck do you think you’re doing?my fox demands before I even realize I’m moving again.

I don’t stop. “Punishing her for what she did to me,” I say through gritted teeth.

What did she do to you, pray tell.

“I was fine beforeshecame along.”

You fell in love with her and she rejected you, as is her right to.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t kill the guy.”

And then what?

“Then I’ll kill the next one, then the next, then the next. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take her long to get the message.”

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