Page 42 of Moon Cursed

My smile went nowhere. “I can give you a few hints about Mommy too, but not if you piss me off. Because here’s the thing, soulmate”—I dropped my voice, whispering in his ear—“this is my kingdom, and I always have the power. Remember that the next time a middle-aged vice principal drops bullshit in your ear.”

I sidestepped him, heading for the door. I couldn’t resist one last look at his long, stricken face. “Aww, I know,” I moaned, pushing my lips up. “It sucks when a ruthless wolf uses your own mom against you. Seriously,” I said, glaring right back into his red, glittering eyes. “What kind of a person does that?”

I slammed the door in his face before I punched it.

“Harsh.”

“Ahh!” Jerking, I whirled around—coming face to face with Nyx. “What the fucking hell! Is this some kind of hot-guy kink? You all get off on lurking behind doors, scaring the crap out of people!”

He laughed. “You’re yelling at me, but you’re also complimenting me. So I’m going to take that as a good sign.”

Rolling my eyes, I made to get around him.

“I heard what you said to Orion.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

Nyx moved in front of me, his long hair tickling my shoulder as he passed, and sharing its peppery vanilla sweetness. “It’s interesting learning all these little things about you, fated mate. Like how much you love revenge and retribution.”

“I don’t love it, Nyx,” I snapped. “Trust me, I’d much rather people didn’t betray or hurt me in the first place.”

He tipped his head. “Fair point.”

“Just because I don’t take it lying down, doesn’t mean Ilovedit when that bastard destroyed my mom’s letters—forcing me to strike back. Or that Ilovedshowing the world that the man Luame chose as my soulmate is a fucking gay basher!”

Nyx winced. “Daze, easy, I wasn’t criticizing. Although, you make another fair point,” he mumbled. “I actually... like that about you. You don’t back down. You never stop swinging. Of course a shameful coward like me admires you.”

“Really? Oh.” My anger drained out of me, leaving me standing there feeling silly. “Sorry about the gay-basher thing,” I mumbled back. “I know you regret what you did.”

“I do,” Nyx said softly. “I’ve tried calling, texting, emailing, and messaging Patrick to apologize, but he’s blocked me on everything—which was the reasonable response, so I can’t blame him. That’s uh— That’s actually why I sniffed you out and came looking for you. It wasn’t to satisfy my hot-guy kink of scaring the mess out of you.”

I rolled my eyes.

“It’s because I need to go, Daze. I’ve got a lot of groveling and forgiveness to beg for, and that has to start with Patrick.” Seriousness like I’d never heard from him before laced his tone. The vain clown I once knew was gone. “Face to face, I need to tell him how sorry I am.” Nyx laced his fingers through mine. “Will you be okay while I’m gone?”

Heat filled my face. “I—”

“Of course you freaking will,” Edric snapped. “Tell that asshole to fuck off and get lost on the way back. He can get his hands off you too while he’s doing it!”

“Stay out of my head!”

“Daze?”

I tossed my head, pulling out of the argument. “Huh? Oh, yes, I’ll be fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” I flushed harder at my high-pitched voice. I was blaming my wolf for that, and no one could stop me.

Nyx smiled knowingly. “I want to say I won’t be gone long, but if I’ve learned anything from you, it’s that I don’t get to decide when I’m forgiven. I’ll stay in Pinewoods as long as it takes to make things right with him.”

“But what if he never forgives you? What if he refuses to let you make amends?”

“There’s that chance,” he admitted, tipping his chin, “but I know another ruthless, vengeful person who swore they’d have nothing to do with me, and I thawed them out big-time—”

If I thought my face was on fire before, it practically melted at his wink.

“—so, I think I’ve got a chance.”

“Do you have to go now?” I glanced back at the double doors. For all I knew, Orion was still on the other side of it—waiting. “Things are getting weird here.”

“I’ll stay if you need me to, but I think we both know what’s really standing in the way of us mating,” he said. “It’s not because you don’t like assholes, or you wouldn’t be with Edric.”

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