Page 120 of Touched By Darkness

Even the word is annoying.

“Answer the fucking question,” I growl, ignoring Dari. I stiffen and lean in close to breathe in the lingering scent behind the copper and human male.

Dari was right all along. She did escape to go back to my uncle. So why the fuck is she back? Is this part of their plan?

If so, it won’t work.

I won’t let her crawl beneath my skin more than she already has, and I won’t let her sink her claws into the valves of my beating heart. I don’t care how broken she looks. I don’t care about the tears that cling to her wispy lashes like dew drops in spring.

“You went to see my uncle, and you didn’t fucking think to let us know you were leaving?”

She stares up at me, defeated, broken, and exhausted. “Would you have let me?”

“No.”

She tries to move past me, but I pull her back, trying and failing to keep a lid on my rage. “Why the fuck did you go to him?”

Her throat, covered in dried blood, bobs on a swallow. “I needed to ask him something.”

“You needed to ask him something?”

“Yes.” Her voice is weak, and I can’t tell if it’s because she’s lying or because she looks like she wants to lock herself away and cry for a week.

“Did you fuck him?”

Her eyes fly back up to my face, and she blurts, “No.”

“But you did fuck the human,” I state, fingering a strand of her matted hair.

She stares at me while I bring it up to my nose and breathe in the scent of death, torture, and sex. “It’s part of the hunt.”

“If you truly believe that, I’ll take you hunting right now. Let you watch me fuck a human girl until she screams my name.”

How am I so calm? It won’t surprise me if I snap her neck soon.

The others shift behind me as if they, too, sense the danger that lurks beneath my steady voice.

“Tell me, did you ride him while the others watched?”

Yes, I can smell more than one human on her.

“Did you fuck them all? Indulge in an orgie? Maybe it’s a new kink of yours.”

Aurelia slaps me, and my head snaps to the side. I take my sweet time sliding my gaze back to her stricken face. She’s angry, hurt, and ashamed. The myriad of emotions that dance across her features does little to calm the raging storm inside me. Outwardly, I’m cold and detached, but behind the mask…

Turning around, she tries to push down on the handle, but I wrap my big hand around her throat and pull her into me until her back is flush against my heaving chest. “We’re not done here.”

“Yes, we are,” she bites out, trying to escape.

My grip on her throat tightens until I’m convinced I’ll kill her if I don’t let her go. Thoughts invade my mind. Thoughts that have no place here.

Thoughts of her with someone else.

“Daemon,” Ronan warns, shifting behind me.

I ease up enough for her to inhale a ragged, choked breath. My fingers itch to kill her. Shoving her away, I call out over my shoulder as I stalk off. “Don’t let her out of your sight. She’s not to leave this fucking house.”

I can’t be near Aurelia right now or there’s a serious chance I’ll hurt her, and not in a good way. I don’t trust myself around her when I’m this destructive. I don’t trust that I won’t squeeze the life out of her for even thinking she could escape me without consequences. She fucked a human as part of the hunt. Again. Looks like I’ll have no choice but to keep her on a tight fucking leash if the darkness has this hold on her.

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