Page 61 of Eternally Bound
He couldn’t meet her eyes as he walked past her and into the hallway. He opened a few doors before he found the closet with the sheets Marta kept stacked within. Staring at them, he struggled to maintain the thin thread of control he’d managed to reclaim after glutting himself on ten bags of blood.
Finally feeling capable of being near her again, he removed a set of sheets from within and returned to the room. Kadence remained where he’d left her, her eyes guarded as she watched him remake the bed.
“You should probably try to get some sleep,” he said when he was done.
“I’m not tired.”
“You’ve had a rough night; you should rest.”
She glared at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. He’d hurt her, he knew. When she should have had comfort and security, he’d abandoned her. He wasn’t surprised she was mad at him; he was surprised by how much he didn’t like it.
“It wouldn’t be a rough night if you would tell me what is wrong with you. Besides, I don’t recall having to take orders from you,” she said.
Ronan gritted his teeth as he met her gaze. Her face was suffused with color; her hair cascaded around her face in waves that emphasized her striking features. She was exquisite andhis. There was no denying it. Even after she left here, she would always be his.
“There is something we must discuss,” he said.
“Noooo,” she retorted sarcastically.
He lifted an eyebrow at her, but he deserved her anger. She hadn’t cried and carried on about her circumstances and what he’d done to her tonight, but what would she say when he told her he wanted to bind her to him for eternity? That he wanted to turn her into something else entirely and deny her the freedom she so rightly deserved to have?
If they completed the mating bond, it would be for him; there would be nothing for her. Just as there had been nothing for her amongst her own kind. He’d thought the hunters archaic for marrying her off like they intended to, so what was he now? Because his demon DNA recognized her as his mate, he believed he had more of a right to her than her own family and her own kind?
He’d fought against losing his humanity for years; he could fight it longer, for her.
“I’m sorry for what transpired here earlier.”
Her eyes became a vivid shade of blue as fury emanated from her. “I see.”
He didn’t understand why that had pissed her off more. He was trying to apologize. He knew it would never be enough, but it was a beginning at least. “I must explain—”
“Don’t bother,” she cut in. “It was a mistake, a passing fling.”
“It was not a mistake!” he snapped, unable to control the flare of temper her words provoked in him. Taking a deep breath, he took a second to steady himself before continuing. “I am not sorry for what happened between us; I am sorry for my behavior afterward.”
“Oh.” Her arms fell to her sides as some of her ire faded. “Okay.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her even as his insides twisted into knots at the words he knew he would be issuing soon. “Okay.”
“Why did you act like that then?”
Tell her.The words screamed across his mind, the selfish part of him roaring to life. She cared enough for him to have given herself to him; she might agree to stay with him if she knew his sanity could depend on it. However, he couldn’t bring himself to place that responsibility on her, not when she was so close to being free.
“It had been a while since I fed.” Not a lie, not a truth.
Her brow furrowed then cleared when his eyes were involuntarily drawn to the vein in her neck. “Oh,” she said. “And you’ve fed now?”
That was not the word for what he’d done. “I have.”
“So you’re better now?”
No.“Yes,” he lied.
“What about what happened with Killean and Declan just now? I’ve never seen you so angry at Killean, and I think something was wrong with Declan.”
“No one is going to talk to you in such a way. Killean knows that now. And Declan is… well, he’s different from others. Before you ask, I don’t know exactly how he’s different. I just know he is. I’ve never asked him to reveal all of his secrets to me, but his difference can be useful to him, or stressful.”
“I see.”
