Page 67 of Cursed Evermore
“You know there’s nowhere else to run, right?” His voice was still low, still velvet, still amused.
He already knew I was going to humiliate myself again by trying to run. That was why he’dwalkedto come and get me. What a joke I must have been when he watched me trying to escape.
“You need to let me go.” I loathed the way my voice trembled, but I was grateful I could speak.
“No. That’s not happening any time soon.”
The air around me burned with those words, toxic in my mind and my lungs. “I don’t have your ring. And I don’t know where it went. I have no idea why my father had it.”
“Aww, Ziyka.Myring andyourfather. We’re definitely going to talk about that.” Wolfe pushed off the doorframe with a grace that made my skin crawl. The floor didn’t even whisper beneath his boots. “So, yes, let’s cut to the chase. Pun intended.”
Gods, what was I going to do?
He took a step forward, and I took one back, my heart resuming its rapid drumming in my throat. One more step toward me, and I took another back.
“Get away from me.” I held up a hand as fiercely as I would a sword.
“No, Ziyka.” More amusement danced in his eyes.
Ziyka.
There was thatwordagain. When I first heard it, I thought it was some kind of Fae endearment. Now it felt like poison in my ears.
For all I knew, he could be calling me an idiot. And why not? I’d certainly acted like one.
“Why are you calling meziyka? What in the hells does it mean?” It was perhaps foolish to ask that question now, but I couldn’t stand to be insulted as well as helpless.
The full-blown smile that dipped the corners of his lips shouldn’t have surprised me, but it hurt just a little more. “A ziyka is a fledgling mage who hasn’t developed her powers yet.” He cocked his head, allowing a gust of wind to lift his hair. “They’re like fawns. Weak and susceptible. They neither know when to fight or when to flee. Neither can they distinguish between good and evil. Most don’t survive without their guardians.”
My skin heated with sickening humiliation and rage.
Fuck,I was right. Hehadindeed been insulting me this whole time.
Butziykadescribed me perfectly.Fledgling mage.
Wolfe was spot on about not being able to distinguish good from evil. I’d stared this devil in the face and thought he was good.
The air shifted in the space between us, becoming thick and heavy.
Wolfe took a bigger step forward, getting close again, and the only thing I could think of doing was what I’d done before.
Run.
I whirled around, but all I got was one more step before he grabbed me.
One large hand clamped around my waist while the other slammed me into the wall.
My scream was swallowed by the sea air, lost before it even left my lips.
Within seconds, he flipped me around to face him, had my hands pinned above my head, and wedged me between his steel-like body and the rough wall.
Towering over me, Wolfe seemed colossal. I was already a gnat next to him, but in this helpless position, I might as well have been made of air.
Wolfe loomed before me, his hair falling forward as he moved as close as when he’d kissed me. Instantly, my breath cut short, and I hated, hated, hated how my damn body reacted against his.
Something was definitely wrong with my judgment if I could respond to him in this moment of horror. Especially knowing that he’d tricked me and lured me into a trap.
Though as his gaze dragged over me in that slow, leisurely way, taking in my face, then pausing at my heaving breasts, I had to wonder if I were truly mistaken about the desire I could see in his eyes.
