Page 18 of God of War

"Did you?"

"No." His lips glide down the side of my throat, and I nearly drop my book. "He did,mi cielito. He's been putting his nose in my business, taking what doesn't belong to him."

"So you decided to take me," I whisper, my voice shaking.

"That was the plan until I met you." He curves his hand around my jaw, turning my face toward his. "It changed right here in this bookstore the first day we met."

"Why?" The question shakes on my lips, but I'm desperate to know the answer. And oddly…grateful that he's answering me at all. My father and Niall never do; he's right about that. Even when it's my safety at risk, they tell me as little as possible.

I'm supposed to remain loyal to a family and a business I know next to nothing about. And I get that they think they're protecting me by not exposing me to the things they do in the dark. But all they really accomplish by keeping me ignorant is…keeping me ignorant.

"Do you want the truth or a comforting lie?"

"I always want the truth, Naz."

"Because I wanted that fucking smile for myself, Brynna," he breathes, his lips inches from mine. "I wanted to know what it tasted like. I wanted to know what those pretty lips felt like wrapped around my cock. I wanted your light for myself." His lips brush mine as he nudges me deeper against the stack, pinning me between it and his hard body. His erection digs into my ass, and I bite my tongue, fighting a moan. "I wanted to break you and put you back together again,princesa."

I whimper this time, my core clenching as a wave of heat rolls through me. What would it feel like to be broken by this man? To be ruined by him? I ache to find out in a way I've never ached for anything.

"For the record, I still want all of those things," he whispers, running his lips down the side of my throat. "The things I want to do to you right here, right now…" He presses his open mouth to my skin, groaning. "Fuck, Brynna. You have no idea."

I think I do. I want the same thing with a desperation that's terrifying. But…I need to know something first. Something real.

"Who are you, Naz?" I whisper, hating the plea in my voice as I turn in his arms, meeting his gaze. But dammit, it is a plea. He seems to know everything about me, and I know nothing about him. Some terrifying part of me wants to trust him. And yet…who am I trusting? The enemy my father hates? The potently sexual man who says he wants to break me and put me back together again? The enigmatic man I've seen only glimpses of here and there?

If I'm going to take a flying leap, I need something real, something tangible. The wild hammering of my heart, the fire in my veins…that's only enough in fairytales. And this isn't a fairytale. In those, everyone lives happily ever after, and only the villain dies. But in this world? Well, he's the villain, and falling for him may kill us all.

And I'm dangerously close to falling.

Naz leans in close, his lips brushing my cheek. "I'm the man who would lay waste to this whole fucking city for you,mi cielito. I'm exactly who they say I am." His voice is a deep rumble against my skin, setting fire to entire tracts of my soul. "People call me the god of war. Do you know why?"

I shake my head, my knees trembling at the raw honesty in his amber gaze. It steals my breath, tangling me even tighter in his web.

"Ares was brutal in battle, but Scythians killed hundreds just to ensure he'd watch over their people because he was a protector, too. So am I." Naz pauses. "I am who I am because I know what it's like to lose everything to someone far more fucking vicious than me." A hint of pain flickers across his handsome face, a glimpse behind the ruthless mask. "I do what I have to do to ensure the man responsible doesn't take another goddamn thing from me or my people ever again."

My heart aches for the little boy who lost his family, who had his world ripped away before he was even old enough to comprehend what that meant for him. The scars his past left behind linger in his eyes now, the wounds still festering after all this time.

I realize in this moment that underneath the cold cruelty he wears like armor, he's deeply lonely. It's an ache I understand far too well. Even with Dad and Niall, this world is isolating as hell. I've always been alone in a crowd, separated by bulletproof glass and bodyguards. Unable to trust anyone because trust is deadly.

Naz and I are opposite sides of the same sad, lonely coin. He became a monster trying to keep his loneliness at bay, to live in this world without letting it destroy him entirely. And me? Well, I got trapped into being a good, obedient little princess.

His honesty about who he is and why is a stark contrast to my family's overprotective coddling. With my father and Niall, I'm a fragile little doll, safe but smothered. I'm supposed to be part of this world but untouched by it.

Will it be the same with him? With everything he's already lost, can he really give me the freedom I crave, or would giving into whatever is between us just be exchanging one pretty cage for another?

"Am I just another possession for you to protect?" The words taste bitter on my tongue, but I force them out anyway. I need to know. "Because I've spent far too long in one of those pretty prisons already, Nazario. My father promised my mom that he'd keep me safe, and he's never seen past that promise. He never will."

Naz slides his fingers into my hair, cradling my head, his expression soft. "Protection is a necessity in this world, Brynna. Your father understands that, just like I do. We guard what belongs to us because we know the agony of losing what we love. He's afraid of losing you."

My heart clenches at his statement. He offers my father understanding in a way my father would never return. In his shoes, my father would have sought to divide us, to sow doubt. But Naz doesn't try to turn me against him. He doesn't try to create a wedge between me and the man who raised me. He simply…defends him. It's a kindness I didn't expect from him, one that humanizes him in a way that nothing else could.

And it allows me to see him in a way nothing else has. He may be everything he said he was, but there's far more under those monstrous scales than I think anyone else will ever know. And those are the parts of him that fascinate me.

Maybe he is the god of war like people say, a brutal tactician who murders and maims as easily as he breathes. But he's all too human, too. And that part of him is just as fierce as the other parts. It knows kindness. It craves love.

Does he even realize that's what he wants? Perhaps not. Will he let himself feel it? I don't know. But the ability to feel it? That's there.

I rise up on my toes, pressing my lips. "Thank you," I whisper. "For being honest."

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