Page 36 of Conquering the King of Storms

I tugged my dress up over my tits as I started walking in the direction I was fairly confident we needed to move in.

“Sway.” Storm’s fingers closed around my wrist.

I held my breath, hoping he was about to apologize for assuming the worst about both of us.

His voice was low as he said, “We need to go through the pool, down to the next portion of the cave. Ivy and Tariq have reached Flood and his female, but they’re not moving. They probably need my magic to get the human back through the water.”

My hopes fell.

I bit my tongue, not ready to speak to him. What would I say if I did?

That he had made me feel better in those hours we shared than anyone else ever had in my whole fucking life, even with the drugs making me obsessed with sex? That Istillwanted him to pin me to the damned cave wall and fuck the hell out of me?

That I had started reconsidering my desire to keep our lives separate, up until he decided he regretted the time we had spent together?

Shit, I had landed myself in a mess.

“Are there monsters in the water?” I finally asked him.

“I’ll deal with them.” He dodged my question, but that was an answer in itself.

When he held a hand out, I stiffly took it and let him pull me into his arms.

Neither of usspoke for the rest of the extremely-long day. It may have been two days, honestly. Even when Sirus had to set me down to make food for my damned growling stomach on a few different occasions, he didn’t say a thing.

So I didn’t either.

I could tell guilt was still wracking him, and it pissed me off that he insisted on feeling guilty about something that I had loved so much, even after I told him he didn’t need to.

So we stayed quiet.

And I stewed.

Two more “days”passed the same way. Sirus swam, and dove, and ran. I held on to him for dear life. And we avoided speaking except when it was necessary, like when he set me down to kill a monster. It felt like a step back from the tentative friendship we’d started building, and I hated it.

But I couldn’t force a man not to feel guilty for tongue-banging me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to feel guilty about it, so it was what it was.

He was him, and I was me, and despite what fate seemed to think, we obviously weren’t meant to be.

I refused to feel sad about that, either.

Maybe I could find another kingdom to live in, away from Storm. I’d miss the other ex-human chicks, but if the kings got their way, we’d be separating to live in their individual kingdoms anyway. So me going on an adventure and finding some other hunk to love me the way I deserved would be just fine.

The more I thought about that option, the better I felt about everything.

We’d get out of the cave, I’d get my own magic, and I’d go out by myself, far away from the man fate thought I needed.

It would be perfect.

Chapter 9

Sirus

I had fuckedup everything with my mate, and I had no idea how to fix it.

Though I could keep my temper steady enough to negotiate peace or befriend someone I needed on my side, I had always been shitty at relationships that required any level of intimacy. Sharing my feelings or expressing my inner-most thoughts may as well have been a joke for all the skill I possessed.

Clearly, I had offended Harper, but I had no idea how to make it right between us. Should I apologize? Grovel? Admit my shortcomings when it came to understanding both other people and myself? All of the above?

---