Page 102 of A Dawn Of Blood

The words and the sight of him almost make me start crying. This is the third time tonight that he’s reminded me of Jericho and Orpheus, the disheveled state of his hair and the still slightlydazed look in his eyes giving him this softness that I’m seeing for the first time.

I shake my head. “I’m not, I promise,” I try to gently reassure him. I motion at the door. “Maybe we could talk tomorrow, when you’ve had a good night’s sleep, okay?”

I watch his jaw clench, but he just ends up walking me backwards. “If you’re really not angry,” he whispers, “why has it been a whole eternity since I was last given a smile?”

“It’s nothing you did, I swear,” I say, his proximity, his scent and the plea in his eyes making my breathing turn shallow.

He presses me against the wall, lifting an arm to cage me in. I hold my breath in anticipation. Without taking his eyes off me, he takes my wrist in his hand, brings it to his nose and inhales deeply, his nostrils flaring and his gaze darkening. The next thing I know, he’s wrapping both his arms around my waist and crushing me to his body as he dips his head to smell my neck.

A wave of heat washes over me when he drags his fangs over the skin right below my ear. Then he gives it a slow lick that only makes me crave a bite. “I guess I am stupid after all,” I hear him say, his voice low and heavy with desire.

He pulls away a little, just enough for his eyes to fill my field of vision. “I know you’re lying to me,” he whispers, “but I don’t want you to stop. I want your lies, Anna. I want all of them. How idiotic is that?”

I swallow roughly. “Very, because they’re not lies. Didn’t I tell you, I’m yours and you’re mine. I want this, I wantyou, more than anything I’ve ever wanted.”

I see hunger flash through his eyes, right before he grits his teeth, grabs me by the backs of my thighs and lifts me up. My mind goes blank when I wrap my legs around him. “No, you don’t,” he leans to say in my ear, his hands starting to roam all over my body, “but you will, because you’ll show me how you like to be touched, won’t you, and I’ll make you feel better thanthat fae ever could. I may not have experience, but I’m a very fast learner and I’m not stopping until I’m passing with flying colors.”

Gods, I want him so badly, but it just doesn’t feel right, not when he doesn’t know..

It takes all I have to do it. “Cain,” I whisper, wanting to sound firm, but my voice only comes out breathless.

“Yes?” he breathes into the skin of my neck.

“Cain,” I repeat, and this time, he catches the tone of my voice.

Frowning, he pulls away a little. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Please, just listen,” I urge him. I hesitate for a moment. “When you passed out earlier, Raven told me my blood is a natural antidote to the shadowcurse… So we, I mean,I—”

He lets go of me, abruptly, and takes a step back with rage twisting his features. “You fed me your blood. Youhealedme.”

“You were in mortal danger, Cain. I thought I was going to lose you.”

“Ah yes, you did it because you cared about me so fucking much, not because it allowed you to bring me under your spell even more.”

“That’s not… We’re mates, that’s why you have the feelings you have.”

But he’s seething now. “You mean hatred? You go on and on about wanting to know why it is that I hate you. Well… why don’t I tell you, huh?”

Shock renders me mute.

“I hate you because Iknow,” he spits out.

I blink at him. “Know what?”

He lets out a bitter laugh. “I was five years old when my father first told me about the prophecy. Aboutyou— the woman who will one day use his son to try to stop him from bringing order into this world. So sadly for you, I’ve spent my entire life knowing you’d eventually and inevitably come for me. I have tosay, you’ve ended up being much more clever than I thought you’d be, until this moment, that is. Because you’ve just given me irrefutable proof that none of it was a lie.”

He turns to walk away, but I come to block him. “Have you ever considered the fact that your father might not have been telling you the truth?” I plead. “I know what it’s like to be deceived by him, I know it firsthand.”

“Yeah right.”

This gets me fuming. “Youdounderstand that it’s not because Ihealedyou that you’re pissed at me? You’re pissed at me because you have feelings for me and that’s making you scared.”

He gets in my face, balling his hands into fists but seeming too overwhelmed with emotions to do anything but stare at me with gritted teeth.

But the very next moment, Nuala and Alaric are barging into the room, their gazes fixing on Cain’s fists.

“What’s going on here?” Nuala demands.

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