Page 30 of Eternally Yours

My lips twitched. “Something you don’t want me to know?’

She sputtered as she scrambled for her next words. “Uh… no. Nope. I’m good. It’s fine.”

Following the GPS on my phone, I turned us down a dirt road that was barely noticeable in the dense forest. Cat really hadn’t been kidding when she’d said this place was remote. More like buried in the heart of the woods.

Loren’s hand gripped the door handle.

“You still don’t trust me.”

She paused. “Should I?”

It stung, and hotter than it should have. But after everything I’d shared with her, the fact she still had doubts dug a hole in my chest.

“If I wanted you dead, you would be,” I snapped. “Why would I go through the trouble of siring you and giving my family more reason to hate me? All to bring you out here and hurt you? I could’ve let that wolf shred you until there was nothing left of your pretty face.”

“Then maybe you should’ve,” she bit out. “I didn't ask for this. Any of it.” She threw the door open while the car was still rolling, forcing me to slam on the brakes. The second we halted, she jumped out.

“Loren,” I shouted, pushing my door open and running after her. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? Get back in the car. You’re acting like a petulant child!”

Her resoundingFuck you!echoed from every tree, hitting me at all angles.

I caught up to her in two long strides, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around as I pinned her back to a massive tree. She growled. I growled back. “Are you mad, running off like that?”

“Let go of me,” she gritted, fighting against my grip, but I held on despite her efforts.

“One of those damn beasts could’ve tracked us,” I said harshly, trying to get her to see sense. To understand I was simply trying to protect her.

“I don’t care. Let them have me.” Holding up her chin, she pressed her lips into a hard line.

She’d seen what those things could do. Knew what I’d risked by bringing her up here. “You don’t mean that.”

She stopped fighting, but I could still feel the tension tightly coiled around her muscles as her breaths ran ragged.

“And why not?” she challenged, eyes flinty. “I want my human life back. I don’t want to be a part of your family’s feud or some battle against an ancient sect. I killed a man today. I am a nurse. It’s my job tosavepeople. Help people. Do you understand what that means? I don’t want to be a monster.”

She paused, searing me with a stare that promised her next words wouldn’t be kind. “I don’t want to be likeyou.”

I pulled back, stunned. “You think me a monster?”

She held my gaze, her expression tightening.

My jaw muscles twitched. I knew she’d been through a traumatic experience and this was how she was processing everything that happened, but to call me a monster after everything I’d done to offer her safety?

“You think you know my kind,” I said, my voice leveled. “But you know nothing outside the confines of your job and the walls of your apartment. That man you killed, he was a lead executioner for the Order, and he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you. You haven’t lived long enough to understand the true complexities of this world, Loren. So don’t you dare call me a monster, not when your precious humans are equally capable of monstrosities far worse than anything your feeble mind could ever conjure.”

Her breath caught as she contemplated my words. I’d been rough, but her words had cut me too. “Nic, I didn’t mean to—I’m so—”

I knew she realized she’d made a mistake saying those things, but my body was so flushed with anger at her insults, I failed to hear the apology before I blurted out an insult of my own. “You were a mere mortal before I turned you into something extraordinary. It would suit you well to remember that.”

She narrowed her eyes, the regret I’d seen in her gaze turning to contempt. “Fuck. You.”

I shouldn’t have enjoyed the pain flickering in her eyes, but dammit, she’d hit a part of me that only knew how to push back. “That’s the second time you’ve said it. Is that what you want then, for me to fuck you?”

Her hand met the side of my face so fast, I felt the sting and heard the sharp sound before I realized what happened. Startled, I stared at her, and the blue in her eyes changed to red, fangs pushing past her lips.

I deserved that slap and more for being such a prick. But shit, there was something maddeningly sexy about seeing her so full of rage and transformed. As I gazed into the glow of her eyes, I felt a stream of hot liquid trickle down my chin. Reaching up to touch my face, I smelled the blood before feeling its warmth coat my fingers. I rotated my jaw to ease the throbbing pain of her blow. She’d not only clocked me good, she’d cut me. From the amount of blood, the gash had been deep.

She’d wanted to piss me off, but her anger and defiance only made me burn hotter for her. Using my thumb, I smeared the blood across her lips, mocking her attempts to rile me, but also needing to quell my need to touch her. “How’s that taste, Beastie?”

---