Page 90 of Griffin Undone
Okay. I waited, but Arik remained silent. “And afterward? What then?”
Something very like regret shimmered in his eyes for the briefest of moments. “Who knows.”
Notwe’ll seeorwe’ll have each other. Justwho knows.
Dread coiled in my core. Well, at least I knew where I stood. Might as well face it head-on. “Arik…what happens to me?”
Arik focused on the computer screen, his words quiet but certain. “This was only ever going to be temporary, Kat.”
Uh-huh.I tried to respond, to give him some flippant comeback that proved he hadn’t ripped my heart out with a few simple words, but getting anything out past the ground glass in my throat would be impossible.
Arik stood abruptly. “I need to go feed.”
Another arrow to the heart. He had a ready—and willing—source right in front of him, but no, he’d rather search out a stranger. Or did he have a ready and willing source out there that he cared about? Because he obviously didn’t care about me. Or maybe he was just trying to escape me. After all, he’d fed last night.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to point that out.
Arik was already crossing the room. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” he said over his shoulder. “Rest. You have to keep your strength up after last night.”
“Right.”
But he was out the door already. I waited, fortunately numb, as the sound of clothes rustling and boots thumping came from the living room; then the door opened and closed. Only then did I force myself back down the hall to my bedroom.
My feet led me into the bathroom, to the sink. My hands turned on the water, though I wasn’t sure why until I leaned over to splash some onto my face. When I straightened, my gaze met my reflection in the mirror.
Mate.
How stupid was that? Arik didn’t want me, and here I’d been thinking he might keep me.
Nope. No one kept me.
Mate.
“Shut up,” I told my reflection.
My mate.
“Shut up,” I yelled, my voice hoarse. But not with pain—he couldn’t hurt me. He didn’t love me, but I’d be fine. I’d manage just like I always had.
So why did it feel like I’d been ripped seam to seam, like pieces of me were scattered so far I’d never put them back together again?
My mate.
“Shut up, Arik.” I choked back a sob. It was Arik’s voice, though Arik had never said it. He’d never mean it.
My mate.
My power surged hot and wild, the physical pain so much easier to handle than the emotion tearing me apart inside. “Shut up!” The mirror cracked and splintered in front of me. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Broken shards of mirror flew across the small room. I watched from somewhere outside my body as tiny red lines coated the bared skin of my hands and forearms. Stinging lines crossed my face. Tings filled the air as the tiny missiles hit tile and glass and porcelain. And still I couldn’t stop. A massive tourniquet clamped down on my head, squeezing my brain until I thought it might pop. Wished it would. Then I wouldn’t have to do this, wouldn’t have to act like everything was fine when I was dying inside.
Glancing down, I noticed without much interest the sparks of power sizzling in the air around my bloody hands, further evidence of my volatility. Was I dangerous right now?
Did I care?
No. Why should I? No one else did.
I stepped back from the mirror, ignoring the slivers beneath my feet until my spine hit the tile wall and I sank to my butt right there in the mess. Curling around my drawn-up knees, I rocked back and forth, the only comfort I could give myself.
