Page 41 of Shadow Kissed (Marked by Blood 1)

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.

“I should tear his fucking head off.”

“Calm down, please.” I swallowed thickly.

Sebastian's expression hardened. He didn’t even look at me. “I shouldn’t have let you wander off like you did.”

“I only went to my room.”

“You didn’t put the bracelet back on,” he scolded.

“Sorry.”

He let out a long exhale and closed his eyes. “No matter. What’s done is done.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, for better or worse, you’ve placed a target on your head. You’re now my bride-to-be, and our culture takes marriage seriously. Engagements aren’t made often.”

I swallowed thickly, a lump forming in my throat. “I only said what I needed to, to get us out of this. We’re not actually engaged.”

“There were other ways I could have handled that.”

“Such as?” I wasn’t going to be ridiculed for saving us. “Killing him wasn’t an option. He’s too important, he said so, and if he wasn’t, I get the feeling you wouldn’t have left him standing as long as you did.”

The muscle in his jaw feathered.

I pressed my fingers against the bite mark, a sob laying thick in my throat. “I won’t apologize for doing something.”

He turned me to face him, his hands on my shoulders, his touch gentler than expected. “You don’t have to be. What did he do to you?”

“He bit me, and he was going to try to…” I trailed off. “You arrived just in time.”

“You put up a fight of your own.” His gaze darted to the tear in my dress.

“Here, you have no need for this anymore.” He reached his hands around me, caressing the back of my neck. I flinched as he gently removed the necklace and pocketed it.

I rubbed where the necklace had rubbed my skin. “When did you realize I was missing?”

“Not long ago. I went to three auctions before here. I didn’t think he’d have the balls to take you to this one. He didn’t even try to be subtle.”

I touched his chest as his anger built, reaching its peak. I splayed my fingers over his shirt, feeling his heartbeat under my palm. Finally, his rage withered away until his glossy gaze deepened into mine.

“What was that?”

I quickly pulled my hand away. “Sometimes, I can change someone’s vibration. You were angry, and it was just—”

“Instinct,” he finished, not looking away from me. “You’re different from how I thought you’d be.”

“I didn’t know you had much time to think I would be like anything.”

His expression faltered. “You should know something now that you’ve set our engagement into motion.”

I moved back, putting a few extra inches between us. “What?” Here it was, the realwhyof why he was holding me here, or at least I hoped.

“I can’t take you back to Baldoria. It’s not safe for you there.”

“I know, and I wouldn’t leave without my mom or Draven anyway.”

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