Page 34 of Eternally Bound
“Ronan!” Killean shouted again.
His friend’s incessant yells cleared his mind, but he wouldn’t mind ripping Killean’s tongue out before they left here. “We’ll be right there!” he barked.
Kadence flinched at his words, but she didn’t move away from him. Turning on his heel, Ronan strode away from her. He removed his coat from the armoire and slid it on to cover his erection.
“Ronan.” He turned at his name. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being kind to me, for showing me that not all vampires are evil. I will tell the hunters that. I will tell my brother we have it wrong. They probably won’t listen to me, but I will try to make them understand. Thank you for giving me an extra day of freedom.” She paused as her fingers touched her lips again. “For showing me what it is like to be kissed. For letting me experience something I probably never will again.”
“Your husband will kiss you,” he growled, his fingernails digging into his palm and tearing into flesh at the thought.
“Yes, but he won’t make me feel like you do.”
Ronan let out a hiss as an invisible fist socked him in the stomach. A red haze shaded his vision as the demon part of him screamed at him to take her. When her hand fell from her lips and she edged away from him, he knew that what she saw of him rattled her.
The sight of her distress eased the turmoil of his emotions, and he was left to deal with the disbelief of what had thundered through him. He needed to get this woman out of his house and out of his life before he plummeted over the edge and became the thing they both hated most.
He couldn’t stand it if he ever hurt her or if she looked at him with disgust. If he stayed with her, both those things could come to pass.
Turning on his heel, he stormed across the room and threw the door open. Killean and Declan staggered away from him as the door rebounded off the wall. “Let’s go!” he spat.
CHAPTER 18
Now that they’d removed her blindfold, Kadence watched as the woods whipped by her at an extraordinary speed from the back seat of the SUV. Her skin was still electrified, the hair on her arms stood up from the lingering effects of Ronan’s body pressed against hers. Her lips tingled with the reminder of his kiss. She had meant what she said, even if it upset him, no man would ever make her feel the way he did.
That was why shealmostfelt bad about what she planned to do.
Declan sat beside her, his brow furrowed as if in deep thought. Occasionally, he would glance between her and Ronan. Every time those impossibly silver eyes swung to her, she felt as if he stared straight into her soul, and she prayed he hadn’t somehow figured out what she intended.
That was impossible. He would have told Ronan if he knew, and he’d definitely try to stop her, but he didn’t say a word. He probably suspected that something had transpired between them and was curious about it. She was only being paranoid.
She met his gaze head on as he peered at her again. To her surprise, his mouth quirked into a small smile. Before she could decide what to make of that smile, he turned away from her to stare at Ronan in the seat before him.
“Here,” Ronan commanded.
Killean pulled to the side of the back road. Kadence’s heartbeat kicked up a notch as, before Killean could put the car in park, Ronan threw his door open and climbed out. She barely saw him through the heavily tinted windows as he stalked past Declan’s door and made his way toward the back of the vehicle.
She jumped when the door next to Saxon swung open far sooner than she’d expected. Ronan stood outside of it, his large body filling the entire doorway.
Saxon slid out of the vehicle and shuffled past Ronan, who only moved back an inch or two to give Saxon the room to maneuver. Ronan’s eyes were more red than brown when they met hers. He stepped aside and gestured for her to climb out. Kadence clutched her coat to her as she slid across the leather seat and exited the vehicle.
The January wind howled down the lonely road, causing the barren tree branches to click against each other, and the dress to billow around her calves. The frigid air wasn’t cold enough to explain the ice creeping through her veins. Her hands trembled when she reached for the phone Ronan handed her. Most likely he would attribute her shaking to the winter night, but she knew it was because she had no idea how he would react to what she was about to do.
Ronan’s fingers brushed hers before he jerked away as if she’d burned him. Kadence studied his face, trying to find some hint of the man who had kissed her with such intensity. She was met with a wall of stone.
What she planned to do now would infuriate the most powerful being she’d ever encountered. With one hand, he could break her neck between this heartbeat and the next. He wouldn’t though, that much she knew. He might go on a tirade, but he would not harm her.
Kadence’s eyes inadvertently darted toward Declan. He leaned against the side of the SUV as he stared at the woods with a look that said he’d rather be anywhere but here. He didn’t look at her while he dipped into his pocket and pulled a lollipop free. She gawked at him as he opened it and popped the candy in his mouth before shoving the wrapper into his pocket.
What is a vamp doing eating a lollipop? She’d never seen anything so absurd as he twirled it in his mouth while remaining focused on the woods. Kadence had the feeling he was aware of her stare, but refused to acknowledge it.
Killean walked a little way down the dirt road, his eyes constantly searching the area around them. Saxon strode to the front of the vehicle and crossed his legs as he leaned against the hood. Lucien must have returned to wherever else he was staying, something she was grateful for now.
For the first time, she considered how they wouldallreact to what she was about to do. They would be as angry, if not angrier, than Ronan. She looked back to Declan again. He turned toward her and gave a barely perceptible nod.
Kadence nearly dropped the phone. Hedidknow! Somehow, he knew or suspected what she planned to do. That knowledge was more than a little unnerving, yet she found her confidence growing as her shoulders relaxed a little. He either believed it would all be okay, or he was trying to get her killed. Whichever it was didn’t matter, she was going through with this.
