Page 67 of Hot in Witch City
“I don’t want anyone else. I only want you.”
A strangled sound escaped her. “That’s the problem.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not able to commit to anyone.”
“Why do you think that? Because you’re half-siren?” I asked.
She pursed her lips and averted my gaze. “Yes.”
“Bullshit,” I spat.
“What?” She stared at me with an incredulous expression.
“You use that as a shield, as an excuse not to get too close to anyone. Why? Is it because you’re afraid of getting hurt? Afraid of someone leaving you again?”
Her face crumbled. She appeared on the verge of breaking.
“I would never do that to you, Gianna. Can’t you see how right we are for each other?” I stepped closer to her, covering my heart. “I’d never hurt you. Never leave you. You’re the only one for me.”
“Stop it, stop it.” She rushed out the bedroom door.
I grabbed my shirt and pulled it on as I followed her down the stairs and into the living room. “You might not want to hear it, but you know it’s true. You know you have feelings for me, but you’re just too afraid to admit it.”
She turned, snapping a neutral mask back in place. “The sex was great, Sebastian,” she said in a tone much cooler and controlled than the emotional one upstairs. “But that’s all it was. We’re not Nova and Diego and can never be in a relationship like them.”
“You’re wrong.” I raised my index finger and stepped closer. “It was never just sex, and you know it.”
She moved to the door and opened it. “You have to leave.”
“Gianna.”
“Go,” she insisted. “It’s over.”
My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and my head felt dizzy. Her words echoed in my head, cutting with a vicious bite with each repetition.
Any hope that I’d harbored, thinking I might be breaking through, vanished. I walked out of the front door like a ghost.
When she closed the door behind me, the greatest fear of any shifter slithered under my skin. It was worse than my phobia of water. Worse than anything I could imagine, wringing me so cold that it shook me deep into my bones.
My mate rejected me.
Chapter 14
Gianna
After Sebastian left, I leaned against the door, body quaking. I never should have called him after being upset about my father. With the way that Sebastian had such a wonderful manner of comforting and caring for me, he’d been the first to come to mind.
But then it imploded.
He’d lied to me. Or, at the very least, kept something extremely important from me. Same thing, right?
A shaky sob tore through me. I inhaled a shuddering breath.
Why had I let things go so far? It was stupid and reckless to even play around and then get involved with him when I was such a wreck. A hot freaking mess.
Mates, what did that even mean? A commitment for life? I couldn’t even commit to a long-term relationship.
