Page 120 of Pretty Little Shadow
What I did was important to me, and I was fucking good at it. He seemed to think I only succeeded because of my magic. I'd have to figure out a way to prove otherwise.
"Hey." Darius stepped into the bathroom as I finally turned the water off and grabbed my robe from a hook.
He slipped his hands in his pockets, his eyes moving slowly over my figure the way they always did.
His attraction to me had never been a question.
"I don't want to talk right now," I said, trying not to sound like a total bitch but probably failing.
I was still pissed.
Anything I said was going to be at least a little bitchy, and I didn't want to fuck up what we had going on any more than I already had by disagreeing with him about women's rights.
Or my safety.
"I don't want this to be a thing. I'll work on getting over it. You're free to do whatever you want. I told you from the beginning that you don't have to be all-in on our relationship," Darius said, feigning calmness.
I blinked.
Slowly.
Then blinked again.
"I don't have to be all-in," I repeated.
"Right."
"In our mate bond."
"Correct."
"In ourrelationship."
"I'll take whatever you're willing to give. It's plenty."
It sounded like he genuinely believed what he was saying, but I could see the anger simmering in his eyes. I could feel his frustration leaking through the bond between our minds, too.
He was ignoring his emotions and instincts to keep the peace.
Fuck that.
I wasn't interested in being mated to someone who lied to me, backed down, or pretended not to care about something that was obviously important to them. We needed to fight it out, verbally. We needed to have a fucking conversation in which he was actually willing to listen to me.
I had no idea how to get there, though.Nothing I said before seemed to matter to him.
"How noble of you," I finally drawled, striding into the closet.
Darius suppressed a growl, but didn't follow me. "It's not noble," he said, after clearing his throat. "I'm just not willing to lose my mate over this."
"I never threatened to leave you," I called from the closet.
"You said it was a deal-breaker."
"That doesn't mean I'm going to leave you over it."
"Then what does it mean, Rae?"
"It means if you tried to stop me, I wouldn't let you. There’s a big difference between that and leaving someone.“
