Page 81 of The Warlock's Kiss

“It never was. We both knew that.”

“Itcan’tbe more.”

His nostrils flared with a heavy exhalation, and he clenched his jaw before shoving himself off the sofa and onto his feet. He closed the distance between them and caught her by her upper arms. “Don’t tell me it can’t be when it alreadyis. Denying the truth doesn’t change it, Adalynn.”

Her features tightened as her eyes met his. “You’re denying the truth just as much, Merrick.”

He held her gaze, unable to contain the emotions swelling inside him—many of which were too intense and jumbled to sort. “The world doesnotoperate based on the rules you knew before. This ismyworld, now. And you were mine from the moment I laid eyes upon you.”

“That still doesn’t change the fact that I’m dying! I’m on borrowed time, Merrick, time you’ve given me!”

“And I may be able to give youeternityif you’d stop being so damned stubborn!”

Adalynn pressed her lips together. She was quiet for several moments, her gaze unwavering, before she finally spoke. “At what cost, Merrick? How badly would it hurt you? How much damage will it do to you?”

“I will be fine, Adalynn. I always am.”

“Swearto me that it won’t hurt you.”

The words gathered on the tip of Merrick’s tongue, but they refused to come out; he couldn’t lie to her now, even if he felt he should. “It doesn’t matter, so long as it saves you.”

“No.”

Merrick clenched his jaw. “I’m not giving you a choice anymore.”

Her eyes hardened even as they filled with a sheen of tears. “It’s not your choice to make.” She pulled away from him, snatched her pants off the floor, and marched toward the entryway. “I refuse to pay the price, and I refuse to letyoupay it for me.”

Merrick strode after her and grabbed her arm before she made it out of the room, spinning her around to face him again. “I willnotlet you die. I’ll payanyprice a thousand times over before that.”

“I won’t let you.” She pulled her arm free of his grasp. “I knew what was coming, Merrick. I accepted it. It’s time that you do, too.” Tears trickled from her eyes. “Let me go.”

“Never.” Rage—sparked by an overwhelming sense of helplessness—roared to life within him. “I’ve already told you, Adalynn, you are mine. I willneverlet you go. You’re going to live no matter what I must do to make it so.”

That hardness in her eyes only strengthened, as though her resolve were carbon being squeezed into diamond. If he hadn’t already known it, he understood it then—she would not budge on this. She would not back down. She would not allow him to perform the soul binding.

All because he couldn’t guarantee what it would do. All because she didn’t want him to come to harm for her sake.

Without another word, she turned and left. The sound of her bare feet on the floor as she stormed away held a crushing finality he could not accept.

Merrick’s fury would not be contained any longer. It locked every muscle in his body and triggered a surge of wild, bristling magic that engulfed him in blue energy.

Let her go?Let her go? Did she truly not understand the depth of what they shared, the intensity of their connection? No, she just wanted him tothinkshe didn’t understand—that she didn’t feel the same way. But he’d seen it in her eyes. He’d sensed it in her song as clearly as he could see the blue of the sky or feel the warmth of a fire.

That fury collided with his frustration to create a firestorm within him, hazing over his rational thought and leaving only a powerful, irresistible compulsion toward destruction. He was aware of nothing else as he tore apart the parlor with a combination of magic and his bare hands, breaking the furniture, tearing the wallpaper, and shattering the light fixtures.

An inhuman roar joined the cacophony of the destruction, rising above all else. In his rage-induced haze, he didn’t recognize the sound as his own.

Chapter Sixteen

Adalynn strode out of the parlor toward the spiral stairway, clutching her pants to her chest. She could feel Merrick’s seed dripping down the inside of her thighs. Tears blurred her vision, and she blinked them away, letting them spill down her cheeks. She clenched her jaw to keep her bottom lip from trembling—and failed miserably.

Her throat worked, constricting further with each passing second. A crash of furniture sounded behind her, followed by shattering glass, and awhooshof power. Her steps faltered, and she caught herself against the wall as a great, heaving sob escaped her. She pressed her forehead against the cool wood as she cried, listening to the chaos, the destruction, and the pain coming from the parlor behind her. Her legs nearly crumpled beneath her, but she managed to remain upright.

There was a tightness in her chest, formed around a well of hurt that went soul-deep.

This was her fault. She’d allowed herself to get too close, had allowed him to care about her too deeply, when she’dknownwhat the outcome would be. And now Merrick was hurting. They both were.

Adalynn squeezed her eyes shut, forcing out more tears. Pain, sharp and piercing, flared in her head. Her cry was drowned out by Merrick’s deafening, inhuman roar, which seemed to make the entire house shake. Unable to look back, Adalynn pushed herself away from the wall and rushed up the stairs.

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