Page 35 of Pierce

“I want to go, and I have to. There’s no way around it. My father will want me back—no way he’s going to let both of us stay forever.”

Yet another problem I didn’t have the time or energy to take on just then.

“She’s the one who’s going to have to get used to it. I can’t do it for her. Maybe she’s the one you should be talking to right now, not me.”

“You could be a little kinder,” she said, as I took a step backward and tapped the touchscreen to close the library door between us before she had the chance to tell me even more about how wrong I supposedly was.

One more tap locked the door—only somebody who knew the code could get in at that point, and it was unlikely that any of the other guys would give the code away. Not to somebody who didn’t belong here.

The library was Smoke’s domain, not mine—not that I was there to get any reading done.

I flopped down into one of the old leather chairs, so dusty that a cloud of it floated around my head.

I waved it off, cursing under my breath. Maybe Jasmine could be trained to tackle the cleaning around there, since she clearly had no desire to be with me.

Change her mind, the dragon urged. She wants us. Didn’t you smell her need? She’s ripe and ready and full of desire, and she only needs us to pluck her off the vine and sink deep inside…

“Enough,” I growled, shoving the image of Jasmine’s warm, curvy, naked body out of my mind.

I kept picturing her beneath me, writhing against me, moaning my name as I plunged into her wet heat. That would never happen. She hated everything about being there, and she certainly hated me for saving her fucking life.

I knocked the chair backward as I stood and winced when it crashed to the floor and kicked up even more dust.

Nothing was going right.

Starting with the moment, I decided to get out of my truck and find out if the person in the car needed help. Yes, she needed help—but I needed it even more, because of her.

There was another loud, crashing noise. It didn’t come from inside the library this time.

“What’s going on?” I stepped out into the tunnel, head swiveling back and forth.

“Damn it, Jasmine! I told you to take it easy!” I followed the sound of Alina’s voice and found her in the kitchen with her sister.

Jasmine was on the floor, eyes closed, broken dishes strewn around her.

“She collapsed,” Alina babbled as I crouched down beside the two of them. “She wanted something to eat, and I told her to go back to bed and let somebody bring her something—especially since she doesn’t know where anything is around here—”

“And she insisted on doing it herself because she doesn’t want any of us doing anything for her,” I finished with a groan of disappointment and disgust. “Come on. Let’s get her back to her room.”

I slid my arms under her shoulders and behind her knees before lifting and cradling her against my chest.

She was so warm, so soft. So stubborn and hell-bent on destruction. The most challenging, ridiculous person I had ever known.

Everything that would ever matter to me until the end of time.

As I carried her down the tunnel, her eyes fluttered open.

She looked up at me. “I don’t want to be here,” was all she whispered before her lids slid shut and her head sank down against my shoulder.

I could only shake my head. “Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.”

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