Page 436 of Shadowblood Souls
I clear the lump from my throat, but my voice still comes out rough. “We’re just—we’re scared for you, Riva. I’m scared that you’re going to do something you’ll regret when you’re this pissed off. Hell, I’m a little bit scaredofyou.”
Riva stares at me for a few beats. Tension lingers in her face, but her shoulders come down from their rigid position. “I—I wouldn’t do anything that would hurt any of you.”
“I know you wouldn’t on purpose,” I say quickly. “It’s just—I know from personal experience that when you’ve got anger driving you, sometimes you’re not even making the decisions yourself.”
She’s as aware as the guys how true that was for me. But her wince doesn’t make me feel any better than her rage did.
Maybe… maybe she needs me more than the other guys right now,becauseI can speak from my experience.
I hesitate for only a fraction of a second before holding out my hand to her, bracing myself against the jitter of my nerves at the idea of touching her. “Walk with me?”
Riva’s throat works, her expression softening. She’s also aware of how much the simple gesture means to me.
As she curls her fingers tentatively around mine, my gaze flicks to the other guys again. Jacob’s eyes are smoldering, but he tips his head as if encouraging me. Andreas offers a crooked smile, Griffin a milder one.
They’re okay with me taking the lead here. I hope I don’t screwthisup, because I don’t really have any idea what I’m going to do once Riva and I start walking.
Riva manages to still give me some space, falling into step with me about a foot away from my much larger frame while holding my hand. Her compassion hasn’t gone anywhere.
The swell of affection around my heart blunts the edges of the gnawing ache. I grip her hand a little tighter and catch a hint of a smile as my reward.
We stroll across the patio and through one of the grassier stretches of garden, not speaking at first. I look down at our clasped hands with a slow breath to steady myself.
“You never got this upset before. Not when we were on the run or with Clancy.”
“I know.” Riva swipes her free hand over her face. “It’s just been so much, over and over. I’m tired of fighting, but I don’t know how else to get out of this. I want it to bedone.”
“What if it can’t be yet?”
Her head droops. “Then I guess I have to live with that, huh?”
A different kind of ache spreads through my limbs—the urge to wrap my arm around her and tug her close, to offer every kind of reassurance. But I don’t want to fuck up whatever progress I’ve made with her by setting myself off into a panic.
My gaze snags on a row of smaller clay pots lined up along the outer wall of the grounds. The flowers that once sprouted from the soil have shriveled in the cooling weather.
A spark of inspiration lights in my head. I draw Riva over to them.
Picking up one of the pots, I aim a careful grin at her. “Maybe if we smash some things right now, it’ll be easier not to smash anything we really shouldn’t later?”
A startled laugh tumbles from Riva’s mouth. She considers the pots for a moment and grabs one of her own. “I definitely feel like breaking something.”
I hurl mine first, flinging it off into the vista beyond the wall. It careens out into the air and plummets beyond the cliff.
My supernaturally keen ears pick up the faint smash of the clay shattering on the ground far below.
Riva could throw just as far as I can, but I doubt she’d get the satisfaction of hearing the result that far away. With a hint of a smirk, she slams her pot toward the rocky outcropping just beyond the wall.
The smash reverberates through my bones with a weird sense of contentment. Hell, I might have needed this release too.
We both snatch up another of the pots and whip them at the edge of the cliff. Riva lets out another laugh, freer this time, a gleam coming back into her eyes.
A stern voice carries across the grounds. “What are you doing?”
We turn to see Toni marching over. She stops several feet away, taking in our stances and the missing pots.
“I don’t see what you think you’re going to accomplish like this,” she says flatly.
Riva cocks her head, a flicker of anger returning but not as wild as before. “We’re letting out some frustration. You should probably appreciate the fact that we found a method that doesn’t involve any bloodshed.”
