Page 106 of Howl You Doin?
“Telling tales, Odette?” Connor asks, and even without looking at him, I can tell his voice is devoid of emotion.
I was so distracted by Odette’s reaction I didn’t hear or smell him approaching. It doesn’t help that this room is covered in so much dust it’s making my nose twitch like I’m having an allergic reaction.
My back straightens and I turn around. Fear races down my spine at the sight of him in a full-breasted suit at the hidden doorway. Chills crest over my body, from my scalp to my toes, at the vile look he gives me.
“Connor, I can explain,” I blurt, nausea threatening to double me over at the contempt on his face. He won’t look at me.
He glares at Odette, like I don’t exist.
“That’s my cue,” she says. She shoots me a look and winces as if to say sorry before snapping her fingers and disappearing from the room, leaving me alone to face him.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, unable to keep the words from being said.
I walk toward him, wanting to touch him, maybe even comfort him, but the growl that comes from him stops me in my tracks. His face looks so stiff and hateful, and he cranes his neck to the side to reveal fur lifting to the surface before he manages to hold back his shift. He looks enraged, and the yellow in his eyes is predatory and frightful. All I can sense is contempt.
He says nothing as he turns from me and strides away.
“Connor.” Tears threaten, burning the back of my eyes as my heart breaks. I hold my breath, knots forming in my stomach when he pauses and looks back over his shoulder.
His gaze locks with mine for a beat, and with a sneer, he finally speaks.
“Get. Out.”
Chapter 34
Whitley Whitt
Cake it easy on me baby.
When I don’t immediately movefrom the hidden library, Connor waits for me to scamper past him, his claws tearing through his butler gloves.
“You’ve known this entire time you were a Van Helsing.” Connor’s voice is low and menacing.
The stone-cold expression on his face tells me I only thought he hated me before. His emotions are entirely shuttered, and he looks nothing like the man I love.
I swallow the lump in my throat, unsure of what to even say. I start to blurt I had no idea it was such a big deal, but deep down, I did know. I knew as soon as he mentioned the name, but I was just so scared. I meet his gaze, my bottom lip trembling as my hands shake.
I was terrified he would react like this, and now I know.
“Connor, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I tell him, not liking how his face darkens and disgust spreads across his features. “I didn’t know what my ancestors did to you, I swear. I’m not even one of them. I don’t know that side of the family at all.”
I grab him by the arm as he tries to walk away from the library, and he shrugs me off, recoiling as if I struck him. His gaze flashes deep gold with fury.
“Don’t touch me,” he growls out. “You knew you were a Van Helsing, and when I told you, you said nothing.”
My hands fall to my sides. “I didn’t mean to?—”
He arches a brow and cocks his head. “You didn’t mean to tell me? Didn’t mean for me to find out? Why do you continue to keep things from me?”
I reach out to touch him again and pause midway when his nostrils flare. “No. That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I wanted to tell you.”
“I need you to leave.” His words are short, clipped, and they snip my heart into pieces. “I can’t talk to you about this. This is way too much to take in.”
“I’m not leaving,” I snap.
I try and fail to ignore the wobble in my voice, and the knot in my throat won’t go away no matter what I do as tears burn. The hair on my scalp lifts, adding insult to injury as my body displays my emotions for all to see, turning it frizzy and unmanageable—all because of him biting me.
“Yes, you are,” he says the words with a finality that brooks no argument. “I want you to leave this castle, myhome.A bloody Van Helsing shouldn’t have stepped foot in it in the first place, and any that have in the past, we’ve slaughtered without regret. You’re lucky all I’m doing isaskingyou to leave.”
